


Gideon and Tom

by FluffAddict



Series: The Other Fox and Bunny Couple from Bunnyburrow [1]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay, Gay Male Character, Gay Sex, M/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 23:54:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7595272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FluffAddict/pseuds/FluffAddict
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gideon Grey and Tom Hopps had known of each other most of their lives in one capacity or another. They even worked together on the Hopps' farm for a long time but hardly glanced in each other's direction. One day while picking up supplies from the Hopps' farm, Gideon and Tom Chatted briefly and somehow, things were never the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gideon and Tom

Gideon Grey pulled his bright pink delivery van up to a small pile of produce under a shade tree in front of the Hopp’s farm. Sitting on one of the crates was a tallish light brown rabbit with dark points and a cream belly. It was Tom Hopps, Judy’s littermate brother. Gideon pulled just past the pile of produce and stopped the van.  
  
The baker fox picks up an order of produce weekly from the Hopps farm as well as dropping off a load of pies for them to sell at their roadside produce stand. Normally there is a random Hopps sibling waiting for him, or sometimes no one at all as he loads up the produce into his refrigerated van. But for the last few weeks it was always Tom that was waiting for him on Sunday mornings.  
  
“Hi Tom!” Gid called out with a smile on his face as he exited the Van.  
  
“Hi Gid, how are you doing today?”  
  
“Ah’m doin fine Tom, jus’ fine. Ah see ya got mah order all ready for me as usual.”  
  
“Of course! Let me help you get loaded”, Tom said as he stood up.  
  
Tom was wearing his work overalls but had the bib down due to the afternoon heat. Gid looked the rabbit over, he was big but lean and muscular. Gideon himself though, well he was just big, his apron bulging out noticeably around his belly, and he was somewhat short for a fox. He and Tom almost stood eye to eye. Today was just like every other Sunday but for some reason Gideon couldn’t take his eyes off the rabbit’s bare chest and noticeable pecs under his bunny fur. He was definitely more built than your average Bunnyburrow rabbit.  
  
Gid shook his head snapping back to reality. He went to grab a box of blueberries from the pile. What the heck was that? He thought to himself.  
  
The two finished loading Gideon’s van and paused at the back wiping their brows. “Ya want a carrot soda Tom? Yer Ma got me hooked on these things when I used ta work fer yer Pa.”  
  
“Sure, that’s sounds great!”  
  
Gideon reached into the back of the van and pulled a couple of bottles out of a box before shutting the doors and sitting on the back bumper. He used his claws to quickly twist the caps off the bottles, handing one to Tom.  
  
Tom stared a bit at the fox’s paws as he made short work of the caps, noting how much larger they were over his own and how much thicker and stronger his claws were. He couldn’t even get those caps off without a bottle opener just having his thin bunny claws and fluff on his palms instead of a tough set of pads.  
  
“Those paws of yours sure were made for getting work done Gid. I always envied them when you used to work for us weeding and pulling. We have to use special gloves but you could just get in there and tear stuff up when you needed to”, Tom laughed. “Hey… can I see one up close?”  
  
“Uh, sure.” Gideon stretched his free arm out to Tom who was standing next to him and let the rabbit grab his paw.  
  
Tom turned the dark paw over and Gid spread his fingers. Gideon’s paw was at least twice the size of his own. The rabbit brushed over the Fox’s paw-pads, inspecting their texture. “Can I see your claws?” he asked.  
  
Gid tensed his fingers and popped his claws out for inspection; they were neatly trimmed and dulled. Still they were so much thinker and stronger that Tom’s, the rabbit couldn’t help being impressed by them.  
  
“Yeah you really got a serious set of features on you Gid, I never really took close notice of them before.”  
  
“They come in handy at times”, Gid said casually.  
  
“As long as you aren’t using them on baby bunnies!” Tom retorted trying to make a joke and instantly regretting it.  
  
Gid immediately pulled his paw back and looked down to his feet.  
  
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry Gid, I didn’t mean to bring that up, believe me!”  
  
“It’s alright Tom, for as long as ah live, ah’ll deserve ta be reminded of it. Well I best be on mah way, I got a order to finish before the day is out. Say hi ta yer Ma and Pa fer me. Maybe ah’ll stay fer dinner next week.”  
  
“Ma would like that. Take care Gid. See ya next week. Again Gideon, I’m awfully sorry for making that stupid joke, please believe me.” Tom said looking like he was about to cry.  
  
Gideon turned and got back into his van. He pulled around and headed out to the main highway back to Bunnyburrow. Tom watched him leave feeling a thoroughly ashamed and angry with himself. Why the hell did you have to say that you stupid rabbit? He scolded himself mentally as he stomped his way back to the main house.  
  
The drive back to the bakery shop was decidedly less cheerful than the drive out to the Hopps farm. It usually was, he enjoyed seeing the Hopps family, especially Bonnie and the drive home was usually lonely, but after Tom’s admonition, he was feeling particularly low.  
  
Unfortunately it was a bit of a drive back home so he had nothing to do but ruminate on it. Though for the most part, everyone, Judy especially, had at least overtly forgiven him for being such a little terror when he was younger, especially after working himself to the bone for the Hopps on their farm for many years. It was times like this that deep down, he knew the entire town still really thought of him as a nasty fox.  
  
Gideon would occasionally think about moving away somewhere and starting anew, but he had a debt to repay here. He’d spend his life here working on repaying it, there was no second though on moving out.  
  
The portly fox got back to his bakery and pulled the van up alongside the building. He unloaded the produce, packing it into his walk in fridge inside. After finishing up one last order for Monday, he huffed his way up the stairs to his apartment over the shop. He pulled his apron and his shirt off and threw them through his bedroom door letting them land where they may, then slumped down on his couch, flipping the TV on and just resting till his breath came back.  
  
Gideon flipped around the channels twice not finding anything to watch and turned the TV back off again. Looking down at his belly he decided to skip dinner and just laid back, his head on one armrest staring at the ceiling.  
  
After a bit he closed his eyes and found himself thinking about Tom. Seeing him topless really stuck in his mind for some reason. But now within his own head he was free to take a longer look at him, his long ears with dark tips, dark nose and paws, cream colored chest. He really was an extraordinarily handsome bunny Gideon couldn’t help thinking.  
  
Gid snapped himself up. “What the heck? Tom? I’m purring after Tom all of a sudden?” Gideon groaned and put his head in his paws. It had been so, so long since he had felt this way for anyone. And when he even just hinted at how he was feeling to his old childhood friend Travis, he didn’t take it well and that was the end of that.  
  
Gideon had pretty much given up on ever having a mate of any kind, there just wasn’t any other foxes that would suit him nearby, and a rabbit? Not likely. Besides he was just always too busy and never really thought about it, so why all of a sudden now?  
  
Gideon growled and got off the cough, moving into the bedroom he threw himself down on the unmade bed and nuzzled his head in between the pillows till he was comfortable and prayed for sleep to end this day.  
  
\-----  
  
It was late in the afternoon on Monday. Gideon’s baking chores were all done and he was manning the counter having sent his help home for the day after shutting down the kitchen. He liked this time of day best; it was relaxing, and he got to meet his customers personally.  
  
The fox was leaning on the counter and watching various Burrow bunnies and the odd sheep or goat walking up and down the street out front when he thought he spotted a familiar face coming his way. Sure enough the shop door opened with a ring and Tom came in carrying a large bin of blueberries.  
  
“Well hey Tom, whaddaya got there? I dinna order any rush blueberries”  
  
“Hi Gideon, I uh… I wanted to come by and apologize for yesterday” Tom said hanging his head a bit. “I was thoughtless and felt terrible about it all day yesterday, I could hardly sleep! I personally picked you a whole bin of the best blueberries we got this morning. Maybe you can make something special with them…” Tom trailed off.  
  
“Aw that was kindly of ya. You dinna have ta go ta all that trouble. I wasn’t mad at ya or nothing, least not fer long”, Gideon said with a smile as Tom looked up from staring at his feet.  
  
“So I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve been in your shop Gid. It’s... well it’s impressive. I don’t know what I was thinking, I’ve seen it from the outside enough times but I never came in. Always in a hurry to buy a bolt to fix the tractor or something and rush home it seems like.”  
  
Tom proceeded to lean down to examine all the pastries in the refrigerated display case, his long ears pointing straight back from his head. Gid let his face slip into a stupid looking smile as he purred inside over Tom’s good looks and soft looking fur. Tom looked up suddenly catching the fox smiling down at him as he stuttered out a question, “Say what are… uh. What are those things?” He finished pointing at the case.  
  
“Ah them’s mah strawberry tarts, mah favorite! Ah practically live off a them” he said patting his belly. “Would ya like one?”  
  
“Sure Gid… I didn’t know you even made all this stuff. You usually just bring the pies over to the farm.”  
  
“Yeah I make all kinds of stuff, change it up a lot too if you come in like once a month”, Gid rambled as he used a glassine tissue to pull out one of the tarts and hand it to the rabbit.  
  
“Hey this is amazing!” Tom commented after taking a bit. “Really. This from our produce?”  
  
“Sure is, nearly everything from the Hopps Farm. Ah’m glad ya like it…” Gideon paused then continued more quietly, “Say Tom you came all the way out here, ah was about ta close up, ya got time ta head upstairs for a beer and hang out a bit before ya head back home?”  
  
“Yeah, sure Gid, that’d be great!” Tom said with growing enthusiasm. Tom had been taking a liking to the big red fox and had wanted to get to know a bit more about him, a couple of beers should open him up pretty good the rabbit was thinking. “You uh live over the shop right?”  
  
“Yeah my house is”, Gid halted mid-sentence as he realized what a sty his house probably looked like right now.  
  
“Your house is what?”  
  
“Oh uh, my house is just up the stairs in the back, come around the counter, I’ll lock up and put these berries away and we can go up through the kitchen.” Gid said his voice lowered. Ah guess there’s nothing for it, ah already invited him. Hope he doesn’t get too disgusted. The fox was thinking while he rambled on.  
  
Gideon led Tom up the back stairs which opened right into his living room. There was an old dingy couch and several pieces of clothing strewn around, a mismatched coffee table and a banged up floor lamp. Most of the furnishings were free castoffs that had been offered to him at one time or another. Tom only barely noticed the clutter, because his main sensory input was the overwhelming scent of “FOX!” that was screaming inside his head. Gideon’s natural scent was permeated into all the furnishings, and carpets.  
  
Gid kept his kitchen and storefront spotless. But when it came time to clean in his home, his energy somehow always gave out. Besides he never had anyone over… ever! “I uh… I’m really sorry about the condition of the place. I don’t have guests too often, or like… ever.”  
  
“Never? I’m like… your first guest ever?”  
  
Gideon thought for a moment then replied, “I do believe that you are the first person I’ve ever had in my house. Ah am properly embarrassed about it’s condition, but have a seat on the couch, ah’ll get the beers.” Gid said as he was quickly picking up the various shirts and aprons from around the floor where he would frequently toss them after a long day.  
  
Gid finally headed to the fridge and brought back two cold Amber Snout Ales. He sat with a thump on his favorite spot on the couch near one of the arm rests. After handing Tom his beer, Gideon quickly downed half of his as he usually did to get to the relaxing part faster.  
  
“Aaaaah… mah favorite beer. Kinda expensive but the cheap stuff tastes like crap!”  
  
Tom takes a sip of his, “I don’t drink beer too often. I usually got too much work to do all the time at the farm. So I’m not really much of a connoisseur.”  
  
Gid laughed, “con-a-sewer? That’s a funny word Tom”, Gid said smiling as he swatted the rabbit on the shoulder almost knocking him over. “Ack sorry Tom, ah dunno mah own strength sometimes.”  
  
“It’s ok” Tom replied, then he got quiet and looked thoughtful.  
  
“Uh, something on ya mind Tom? Ya look a bit lost. It’s mah crappy house innit? It’s not usually this bad I swear!”  
  
“No no, it’s not that… sigh. I wanted to ask you something but was having a hard time finding the right words.” Tom took another swallow of his beer.  
  
“Wull just ask me! No need ta beat about the bush.”  
  
“Ok then.” Tom said as he sat up straight, laid his ears back and looked the fox straight in his light blue eyes. “What is it like being the only gay fox in the county?”  
  
Gideon choked on his beer and nearly spit it out all over himself, Tom and the couch. The fox coughed and wheezed a couple times before he could talk. “Who told ya I was gay?!?” Gid said incredulously and a bit too loudly.  
  
Tom instantly looked nervous, he suddenly felt a bit trapped inside a fox’s den with said fox after making him mad. “Um, no one! No one I swear! Just… it’s just like something everyone knows? I mean I thought it was a fact?”  
  
Gid just looked at him with what could have been a giant question mark on his face. “Everyone just knows? How long has this been going on? Why would anyone think that?!?”  
  
“I… I’m sorry Gid, maybe I should go. I’m really sorry I asked.” Tom said with a frown as he started to get off the couch. His face was starting to scrunch up like he might start crying.  
  
Gideon instantly felt terrible, “No Tom don’t go! Really ah.. ah’m, not mad at ya, just kinda shocked. I’m sorry ah raised mah voice at ya. Yer a good bunny and I like ya so please stay and finish ya beer with me?”  
  
Tom started to sit back down on the couch and Gid leaned back putting his paw to his forehead. “So… everyone thinks I’m gay. Do ya have any idea why? I’ve certainly never talked to anyone about that sort of thing.”  
  
“Well Gid, I mean… You’ve never had a girlfriend, you’re a baker, you drive around in a bright pink van. I mean… It may just all be stereotyping but... that’s a lot of adding up there”, Tom said with a laugh as his beer was starting to loosen him up some finally.  
  
The fox laid his head back on the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling for a long time. “Well they’re not wrong...”  
  
Tom didn’t have anything to say in reply, he’d assumed that from the start, so he just let Gid think on what he’d blurted out for a bit.  
  
Still staring at the ceiling Gid spoke up again, “Ya know a’ve thought about comin out for so long but it was hard enough getting people ta accept me as it was, so ah nevah had the courage. And all this time everyone already assumed. So long I agonized over that…”  
  
Gid brought his beer up to his snout, leaning down a bit to suck the last of hit from the bottle as Tom spoke up again. “What if I told you I was gay?”  
  
This time Gideon did spray beer from his mouth and his nose. He coughed and burbled as the beer drained from his sinuses painfully. “Dammit Tom! You are never allowed to speak while I have a bottle to my lips ever again!”  
  
This time Tom laughed and slapped the fox on his shoulder as he continued to cough and paw at his poor carbonated muzzle. “I’m sorry Gid, but that was hilariously funny”. Tom smiled as he leaned back into the couch and brought his bottle up to the corner of his mouth to finish it off.  
  
Gideon got up and headed to the kitchen to grab another beer, then grabbed second one for Tom too. “Half a mah last one is all over the furniture now…” Gid sat back down with a big flump, causing Tom to bounce a bit on the center cushion.  
  
“So you ever have a boyfriend?” Tom asked.  
  
“No”, Gideon replied curtly.  
  
“So how do you know that your.. “  
  
“Ugh, well I sorta had a crush on my childhood friend, er you remember Travis?”  
  
“Travis? Gah!”  
  
“Uh, yeah, well we were good friends back then. And as I got older I started developin some weird feelin’s for him. Ah had no idea what was goin on. Ah just wanted ta… be near him or have him near me, sit on mah lap maybe. Ah… ah wanted ta snuggle him so bad, just hold him close. One day we was tired out after playin in the lake and restin on the grass and I just tugged him into a hug as we laid there and he sorta flipped out about it. He wouldn’t talk ta me after that. I was so confused about it. Shortly after that I came ta work for ya Pa on the farm and then eventually he loaned me the money to build this place and ah been too busy ta think about such things ever since.”  
  
“So that’s it, well I don’t know if that’s really enough to know…”  
  
“That’s not entirely it, but I dunna think ah wanna talk about it too much”, Ah’m certainly not goin ta tell this bun bun how muich he’s been making me crazy the last few days anyway! “Am convinced that ah’m preferring a male companion. But...” Gid looked down at his feet and chuckled, “There’s no one around here fer me. So few preds at all, not really into goats or sheep… I dunno, it’s just not possible.”  
  
“I noticed that you didn’t mention your opinion on rabbits.”  
  
Gid looked over at Tom, purposely checking him out from feet to ear tips while leaning back on his couch. Gid smiled, feeling a bit of warmth from the cute male just a few inches away from him. “Ah honestly nevah really thought about a rabbit mate before. It seems like… a tough go. Ah don’t mind hard work but then ah also don’t go out a my way to make things more difficult if I don’t have ta, as my messy house shows.”  
  
“Tom kind of frowned at that last part, he took a long swig of his beer to hide it from the fox though.”  
  
“Ah will admit though, ah do find ya to be a very handsome rabbit Mr. Tom. I doubt you’d have any trouble findin’ a nice bunny mate of either sex. In fact, why the heck don’t ya have one already, I figured you’d be beating them off with a stick.”  
  
“Well I have been with the girls, so many setups! It’s tiring” Tom said a bit exasperated. “I’m polite and I take them out but I never really feel anything for them. As far as dating a guy goes… heh, well some might suspect, but you’re the only one I’ve told so far so I got nothing to compare too at this point.”  
  
“So why didn’t ya just go to one a them Gay rabbit festivals they have all the time and mingle?”  
  
“I may look a bit like a big tough rabbit Gid, but I’m not that outgoing. Born and raised on the farm, I hardly get out at all. I thought about it but jumping into the Lion’s Den as they say... not really my style.”  
  
“So... you decided to jump into a Fox’s Den instead eh?”  
  
“It’s not like that! You invited me up remember?”  
  
“Yeah but you accepted” Gid laughed. “Ah’m just teasin ya Tom, the beer has me in a giddy mood I guess. Though… it’s getting a little late for me, ah’m feelin a bit tired. Thinking a going ta bed. Uh, are ya going to be ok headi home?”  
  
“I think so” Tom said as he stood up, but then wobbled on his feet and immediately sat back down. “Er, nope. I’m not used to drinking, I don’t think I’m going anywhere.”  
  
“Ha, well feel free to sleep it off on the couch there, ah’m going ta bed.” Gid said as he turned off the lamp and weaved his way through the open bedroom door. He took his shirt and pants off with a bit of stumbling which got the attention of the rabbit in the other room, and finally collapsed on the rumpled bedding.  
  
“You ok in there Gid?” Tom shouted.  
  
“Yeah mmmfine…” Gideon said with a mumbled sigh.  
  
Tom took his shirt off and put it down over a couch cushion and used it for a pillow. The smell of fox was strong in his nose with his muzzle so close to the fabric that Gideon always sat against. He was almost getting used to it, at least as one might get used to the smell of a skunk after a few hours of having it in your nose.  
  
\-----  
  
The next morning Gideon got out of bed, bleary eyed as usual but with a bit of a head ache. “Damn, I fergot ta drink a glass of water before bed” he mumbled to himself. The rumpled red fox stretched, rubbed his eyes and skritched himself through his boxers as he made his way out of his bedroom into the living room.  
  
He was about to let out an exaggerated yawn when he caught the sight of Tom sleeping on the couch. Carrots! I forgot about that. The rabbit was still asleep, he was perched precariously on the edge of the couch with one ear, arm and a knee hanging over the edge. Gid smiled to himself, he’d never had anyone spend the night before, and the rabbit looked even cuter sleeping than when he was awake.  
  
The fox decided to not wake the sleeping bunny and to just sneak into the kitchen for a glass of water. As he turned though, he slammed his foot into a leg of the coffee table with a loud thump followed by unintentionally screaming “Fark!” at the top of his lungs.  
  
Tom practically hit the ceiling he startled and leaped off the couch so fast. Standing in the middle of an unfamiliar house with the smell of fox all around he instinctually panicked and started bolting around looking for escape.  
  
“Tom! Calm down, it’s just me, I stubbed mah toe somethin awful. Sorry ta panic ya.”  
  
The rational part of the rabbit’s brain was finally awake now and he realized where he was, “Carrots Gid. You scared the crap outta me!”  
  
“Ah know, ah’m not used ta havin guests over”, Gid hop-limped over to the kitchen and poured a big glass of water. He drank it all down in a hurry, some of if ran out of the corners of his mouth and onto his chest. He then poured another glass and limped over to the couch, handing it to Tom.  
  
Gideon slumped down on the couch and brought his sore foot up and started to rub it while whimpering a little.  
  
“Thanks Gid” Tom said as he took the glass of water. Tom sat on the couch and watched the fox rubbing his foot while sitting in his boxers. It was probably one of the last things he would have imagined doing just a couple days ago as they were talking and loading up his produce at the farm. Tom watched the fox in his awkward position quietly for a bit then without thinking about it offered, “Hey Gid, you want me to do that? Rabbits know a thing or two about foot rubs.” Tom said as he raised a big rabbit foot and wiggled his toes.  
  
Gideon looked up into the rabbits smiling face for a few seconds trying to decide the ramifications of that question. It’s just a foot rub dummy. “Ah sure, that would be nice.” Gid said tentatively and he stretched his leg out on the couch towards the eager rabbit.  
  
“I’m not too familiar with the foot anatomy of the red fox I have to admit, but I’ll try my best.” Tom reached out and started to rub the fox’s hind foot starting with the arch. Gideon almost purred as he laid back on the arm rest, closed his eyes and let the rabbit do his thing.  
  
Tom worked upwards to the fox’s center paw pad, then onto each of the toe pads one by one. When he reached the damaged toe Gideon winced and pulled his foot back reflexively. “Sorry! I’ll go slow…” He went back to carefully massaging the hurt toe. Tears were streaming down Gideon’s face from the pain but it was starting to feel better so he put up with it.  
  
Tom looked up to see how Gid was enjoying it and saw him tearing. Aw your just a big softie fox aren’t you, he thought to himself. He then looked down the length of the big creatures body, fluffy and rumpled, thick and colorful and… that was a sizeable lump hiding under the thin material of those boxers he couldn’t help noticing.  
  
Tom suddenly felt embarrassed as the sight of Gideon was causing him to feel a bit like melting inside, a lot like melting actually. He could feel his face heating up and it was a bit alarming. Just then Gideon broke out of his massage reverie and explained “Crap it’s late! Ah gotta git the shop open! Sorry Tom, thanks fer tha massage, that was nice but ah gotta get ready fer work now.” Gideon quickly got up and headed to his bedroom and turned on the shower.  
  
Tom took that as his clue that he should probably leave now. “Ok Gid, thanks for the beers and the place to crash. I had fun last night! Maybe… maybe we can talk again sometime.”  
  
“Anytime Tom, any time.” Gideon shouted from the bathroom.  
  
Tom was already thinking of another way he could get some time with the big fluffy baker. “Hey Gid! Why don’t ya come over and stay for lunch next weekend, Ma’ll like that!”  
  
“Sure Tom! See you then!”  
  
With that Tom let himself out the “front” door (Actually at the back of the building) and walked down the stairs slowly, his mind churning over the last 12 hours. A fox? Are you seriously thinking about dating… a fox? The stiffness in his belly told him how he felt already though.  
  
Tom climbed into the rusty old flatbed farm truck and started it up. He rubbed his face with his paws, trying to clear his mind. And not just any fox, but Gideon Grey! That’s just Stupid. Yet, on the long drive home, Tom could not get the image of the nearly naked fox and his bulging boxers out of his mind.  
  
By the time he got home he was hurting he’d had a budding erection for so long. Tom just wanted to get to his room and take care of it as fast as possible. Thankfully it was still early and not too many bunnies were up yet.  
  
The family members he did pass were all younger siblings and easily dismissed. Finally he managed to make it to his room without running into anyone important. He hurriedly took off his shirt and was starting to undo his belt when a voice behind him scared him into impersonating a statue.  
  
“Tom? Would you mind explaining to me where you were all night?”  
  
Moldy carrots! “Uh, hi Ma” Tom said, fastening his belt back up and turning to face her sitting on his completely made bed. His erection had utterly vanished almost in an instant.  
  
Bonnie patted the bed next to her. It had been a long time since he got the “You’ve been a bad boy” treatment from his Mom. He wanted nothing more than to remind her that he was 24 years old and capable of running his own life, but then she would counter with As long as you’re under our roof… so he didn’t even bother, he just sat and waited.  
  
He could see Bonnies nose twitching as he sat next to her, he knew he reeked of fox. “Were you out with Gideon all day yesterday? And… last night?” She said with some alarm.  
  
Tom’s eyes grew wide, he hadn’t told her, or anyone, that he was gay so she couldn’t be thinking that could she? “Not sure what you’re thinking Ma but I just went over there yesterday afternoon to apologize for a rude remark I made to him on Sunday. I brought him a tub of berries I picked myself and he invited me up to his apartment for beers. It got late and I was kind of drunk and I slept on the couch. That’s it! I mean I am 24, I can…”  
  
Bonnie cut him off instantly, “As long as you’re living in this burrow mister, I want to know if you’re going to spend the night with strange animals got it? I was worried about you!”  
  
“Strange animals?!? It was Gideon! We’ve known each other forever. Well uh, ok we’ve never been friends or anything but, I hurt his feelings pretty bad the other day, he didn’t deserve it, I just felt like I had to make it up to him.” Tom said a bit too enthusiastically. “But uh, I am sorry I didn’t call and let you know I was going to spend the night.”  
  
“Apology accepted. Though when you sat down you gave me quite a start. Tom hun you got Gideon’s scent all over you, almost like…”  
  
“What?” Tom looked at her nervously for a moment. “His apartment… it’s, well let’s just say he’s never heard of Pawbreeze. And his couch is the worst, I’ll make sure to tell you if I unexpectedly stay out all night again I promise.”  
  
“You’re a good boy Tom, now you go take a shower, you smell more fox than bunny right now, seriously.” Bonnie said as she got up to leave.  
  
Tom sniffed at his arm as he got up to prepare for a shower. He smiled at Gideon’s faint scent, his belly feeling a bit stiff again already. He grabbed a clean pair of shorts and undies and headed for the communal showers in his burrow. There was no one else around when he got there. Good. He pulled out a towel from the cupboard and left it and his cloths in a pile on a bench before heading into the shower area.  
  
The big rabbit headed for the furthest shower from the entrance and turned the water on. Facing the wall he rubbed at his belly as he sniffed at his pelt again before the water rinsed Gideon’s scent off him for good. The bunny’s penis appeared from its hidden sheath and he rubbed it in his dense paw fur, quickly getting himself fully erect. He had just started to pump himself into both paws in earnest when he heard the communal shower door open with a crack and the laughter of two of his brothers as they came it. Onions!  
  
Tom stopped what he was doing but not quite quick enough for the two other males to see where his paws had been. “Hey Tom, whaaaaat are you dooooing?” one of them cooed at him.  
  
“I’m takin a shower you dumb rabbit!” Cheeses! Tom screamed to himself almost in tears at the nonstop interruptions. Not that he wasn’t used to it with 275 siblings and many of them with families that lived in the Hopp’s warren. This time is was Dave and Buddy, two years younger than him and not his favorite male siblings either.  
  
His brothers had quickly and quietly snuck up behind him as he was trying to compose himself and grabbed him turing him to face them. “Let’s see what ya got there Tom!” Tom was hiding himself in his paws giving them a death glare. “Aw come on, were brothers. You’re such a brute of a bunny, we’ve always been curious, just let us have a peek”. Dave started reaching for one of Toms paws to pull it away.  
  
Tom knew this wasn’t going to end easy so he just gave in and removed his paws, showing his completely stiff bunny cock to his siblings. The pair of smaller rabbits both blinked in disbelief and were uncharacteristically quiet for a few moments.  
  
“Geeze Tom, that thing is…”  
  
“A freakin monster, that’s what it is!” Buddy blurted out.  
  
Tom could see in their faces that they were immediately shamed a bit and taken aback. And he now knew all he needed to know about their anatomy.  
  
Feeling guilty, Dave softly said, “That’s ok Tom, thanks for showing us. Uh, we’ll leave you alone and shower on the other side.” And he grabbed Buddy by the paw and drug him off. “Hey I wasn’t done lookin!” Tom could hear Buddy say as his brother dragged him around the corner to the row of showers on the other side of the wall.  
  
Tom sighed and turned back to facing the back wall. He still needed to take care of himself or he’d never get anything done today. He closed his eyes, and let the warm water run through his fur as he stroked himself. He started by picturing himself giving Gideon a foot rub again, then his hands massaging the fox’s leg upwards, over his thick calf and up his thighs. His paws finally working their way though his fur up one of the open legs of his boxers, his fingers suddenly brushing against a fuzzy pair of…  
  
Tom almost instantly came, tight contractions between his legs sent spurts of white pearlescent bunny cum against the showers back wall. It almost hurt he came so hard. His heart was pounding. He stroked himself softly as the last dying contractions pumped out more of the white rabbit semen over the back of his paws. He dropped to his knees with his head down, both front paws on the tile floor trying to catch his breath.  
  
On the other side of the wall a pair of rabbits were showering quietly trying not to be disturbing when they heard what sounded like a moan. Dave and Buddy looked at each other with a smirk and a silent laugh. Then they heard something else they couldn’t figure out. They quietly padded over and looked around the wall to see their big strong brother hunched over on his knees in the shower… crying?  
  
“Tom… er, Tom are you ok?” Dave said softly as he came up behind the slumped over Tom. Tom hadn’t heard them come up and started at Dave’s voice so close. He quickly got to his feet. The water has washed everything away but his cock was still hanging out, limp and a bit red from the workout. Tom just looked at his brothers concerned face with a bit of shock and turned the water off, hurriedly grabbing his towel, drying his midsection as quickly as possible, dressing and exiting the boys shower area, leaving the other two rabbits perplexed.  
  
“That boy needs a doe… BADLY” was all that Bubba could get out. Dave just cuffed him on the back of the head and they went back to finish washing up.  
  
\----  
  
The fox and the rabbit had two very different weeks. Both had hard work, one in the kitchen, the other on the farm, but overall Gideon was quite happy. He was in a noticeably upbeat mood all week and no one knew why. Gideon just had to picture Tom sleeping shirtless on his couch or massaging his hind paw, his first house guest and devastatingly handsome rabbit… friend? And a smile would come over him. Course once or twice that did lead to an over salted dough or a burnt pan of tarts but not even that could bring him down.  
  
Tom on the other hand had several problems to deal with, mostly caused by living in a huge rabbit pile. First, the rumor that he had the bunny kingdom’s largest cock had spread like wildfire and brought up an insane amount of awkwardness with weird looks, constant glances to his crotch, pats on the back and outright demands that he show it off.  
  
The lesser though more disturbing one was that the entire warren now thought needed to find a mate and it was urgent that the family help him out with it. His older sisters would not rest till they got their big aloof brother married off. That sort of complicated his real problem that no one knew about, which was he might have fallen completely in love with Gideon. He didn’t really know what love was exactly but if love was feeling like you were going to have a heart attack every time you saw or even thought about someone, then yes he was in love whether he wanted to be or not. And if it were a male bunny, well, no one would do more than raise an eyebrow before shaking his paw, no it was with Bunnyburrow’s most famous troubled fox, Gideon Grey.  
  
Somehow Tom had gotten through the week with all his fur on and it was Sunday, after pouting and being grumpy all week he was suddenly in a good mood, Gideon was coming over for supper. Tom couldn’t help waiting out front when it got to be about noon. He’d been helping pack food in and out of the kitchen and pantry all morning but was now just sitting under the big shade tree waiting for his invited fox guest to show up.  
  
The wait was mercifully short as Gideon’s Pink bakery van came rumbling up the road and turned on to the long driveway up to the Hopps main residence. Tom hopped up excitedly and met Gid as his van rolled to a stop. A stupid grin was plastered on his face that he couldn’t control.  
  
“Howdy Tom, are you the official welcomin committee?”  
  
“I guess, yeah… for you anyway.”  
  
Gid smiled as the big rabbit looked at him, “Well ah hope foods almost ready, ah’m positively starvin. Ah aint et nothin all day!”  
  
The two of them wen around back of the house and Gideon was immediately mobbed by bunnies. This was a usual thing so he was plenty used to it by now, bunnies on his shoulders, clinging to his arms and legs and hugging his tail. “Hello Hopps bunnies, how are you all today” Gideon asked, which was followed by a deafening chorus of answers of all kinds which he more or less had learned how to tune out as it was impossible to pay attention to 20 rabbits at once.  
  
There were dozens of large tables set up out back under a large and permanent tent like structure, open on the sides, mainly to keep the sun off. Tom led Gideon to the main table where the eldest kits and the parents sat.  
  
Tom usually sat next to Stu as he was second male in line. Judy would sit next to Bonny if she were visiting, otherwise that seat went to the next eldest female littermate. But Tom decided to sit next Gideon instead. The fox has no perception of the political ramifications of that and was happy to have the company.  
  
Stu Hopps was already at the table and flashed a look at Tom for a second but didn’t say anything. Bonnie soon sat down after finishing the prep work and also noticed Tom’s unusual seating place, she glanced at Stu worried for a second but he didn’t seem to show that he cared so she relaxed.  
  
Sitting at the head table had its perks, you got waited on by the second litter and were first to be served. Gideon tore into his supper enthusiastically, saying, “This shore is delicious Mrs. Hopps. You know how ta cook and how” with his mouth full of vegetable lasagna. The table was suspiciously quiet and he looked up as everyone was either staring of obviously not trying to stare at him. “Uh, oh sorry, ah don’t know where mah manners is” Gideon said apologetically. He grabbed his napkin and wiped his muzzle, sitting back up straight in his chair.  
  
“It’s all right Gid” bonnie replied. “We know you don’t eat with family too often, were glad to have you here anytime you know. You should come over more often.” Stu just glared at him for a bit before going back to eating.  
  
“Well thanks Mrs. H. Ah wish I could, the shop keeps me pretty busy in town most a the time.”  
  
The rest of supper was pleasant though a tiny but awkward. Tom couldn’t help himself and half way through he moved his leg against the fox’s under the table which startled Gideon at first, but he didn’t mind at all.  
  
After supper, the rabbits wandered off or reformed in top little groups to talk, Bonnie went back to the kitchen to oversee cleanup and Tom knew that Stu was headed for his big comfy chair in the house for an afternoon nap. Tom towed the fox over to a nice big tree at the edge of a carrot field and sat under it, motioning for Gideon to sit next to him.  
  
“Sorry fer makin a fool of myself at supper Tom.”  
  
“What? Oh that”, Tom laughed. “That was no big deal. Really, my sitting next to you is what was really on everyone’s mind.”  
  
Now it was the fox’s turn to say “What?”  
  
“It’s nothing.” Tom sighed, “You would not believe the week I’ve had. My sisters are in an insane campaign to get me fixed up with a doe now.”  
  
“Ouch. So are ya going to tell them you’re not interested in does and start looking for bucks instead?” Gideon said with a pained smile.  
  
“Bucks? No! Uh I mean…” Tom was suddenly feeling kind of down about Gideon’s remark. It wasn’t the first time the fox had deliberately tried to steer him away from himself. And he did essentially indicate that bunnies were the last species he considered on his potential mate list. Onions… he still doesn’t think of me that way… A major frown came over his face. I Gotta think of something ta do…  
  
“Hey fox face…” Tom said looking up at Gid. “You want to go swimming at the lake?  
  
Gideon thought for a bit. Swimming with Tom at the lake. He was torn, he desperately did want to, but… he just couldn’t lead Tom on. The fox was quiet while he puzzled out his own feelings for what he knew he shouldn’t be doing. Finally he couldn’t help himself and finally replied, “Sure Tom, that’d be great. Perfect weather fer it!”  
  
The two got up and headed towards the lake trailhead. Bonnie had been watching them from the kitchen window and saw them talking under the tree and then heading off to the lake. She wasn’t exactly sure what to make of it. Those two had never been close at all even though they pretty much knew of each other their entire lives. Why now all of a sudden? It was nothing short of suspicious.  
  
Tom could make the hike in less than 10 minutes, but Gideon was decidedly slower. The Rabbit stayed with his slower companion however and thirty minutes later the two mammals made it to the clearing where the lake was. Well swimming hole was more like it, there was a meadow that ended at a sand and mud beach and across the small lake was a granite cliff face that you could dive off of if you were brave enough.  
  
Tom took off his shorts and pants, placing them on the dry grass and was watching the fox undress. Gideon Took off his shirt and pants and boxers and placed them on the grass nearby. Tom’s mouth hung open as he stared at Gideon’s naked body.  
  
“Ah though we was goin skinny dippin? That’s what we used ta do all the time when ah came here with Travis. If ya don’t wanna I can put my boxers back on…” Gideon reached down for his underwear.

“No!” Tom blurted out a little too forcefully. “Th-That’s fine, I just wasn’t sure if you wanted too” Tom laughed nervously as he took his undies off and put them on his pile of cloths. Not that there was anything to show off either way. There was just a little bump and tuft of fur over his testicles near the middle of his legs, his sheath was entirely hidden. Conversely, Gideon’s sheath was entirely exposed as well as… oh geeze, I gotta get to the water!  
  
Tom quickly ran into the lake and walked out a ways till he could float and swim without touching the bottom. Gideon came jogging into the water, his various now unhidden parts bobbing and swaying beneath his belly till he splashed down into the lake making a sizeable wave towards the rabbit.  
  
That sight alone was worth two weeks of pawing was all Tom could think of.  
  
Gideon swam up to him and splashed him with a paw and said, “You’re cute when you’re shy, you know that?”  
  
“Oh yeah?” Tom used his big paddle like feet to launch himself in the air a bit and grab onto Gideon’s back. He then leaned out far enough to use his surprising weight to topple the fox head down under the water.  
  
“Why you little…”, Gideon sputtered when he came up for air and attacked the rabbit, easily overpowering him in a bear hug and rolled him under the surface.  
  
The two splashed and played like kits till they tired each other out, but unlike kits, that didn’t take very long. Dragging themselves on shore they both shook themselves dry. Gideon dropped to his knees, then to his paws then lowered himself belly down onto the dry grass to rest. He was still flicking his tail back and forth now and then from excitement and tom got a birds eye view of the foxes comparatively huge red rump, the root of his fluffy tail and… a perfect pair of golden furred testicles between his legs.  
  
Tom’s heart was racing, he dialed his vision back and looked the entire fox over from head to foot. He was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen laying naturally in the grass. He wanted… he wanted to touch him, between his legs, so much he couldn’t stand it. But he just couldn’t. Gideon… he just wasn’t interested in him that way, he was sure of it. At least not yet, he hoped.  
  
Gideon turned his head to look at the bunny still standing and he patted the grass next to him, still panting too much to talk.  
  
Tom laid down in the grass beside the fox and just looked at him, his back going up and down as he breathed. Tom laid there for a time, and with his heart pounding in his ears he finally plucked the courage to gently put his arm over the fox’s back and left it resting there unmoving. Tom was shortly relieved when Gideon didn’t move or say anything and his heart started to calm down some.  
  
Gideon didn’t want to show it but he almost melted into a pool of liquid fox when he felt the rabbit put his arm around his back. There were so many reasons to stop this; His business relationship with Mr. Hopps, and with the rest of the Hopps family, his business relationship with the entire town, Tom’s relationship with his family. No one would be happy about them being together. Gideon felt he could shoulder the burden himself, he already had plenty of practice with that, but poor Tom. He would be so much better off with a buck than a Tod. But for now… he was content being a puddle of liquid fox under the arm of a warm buck rabbit.  
  
Tom thought he heard Gideon sigh at once point, but he was getting sleepy and the two of them fell asleep under the warm sun as their fur dried.  
  
\-----  
  
Tom slowly woke up to what sounded like someone calling his name. He raised his ears above the top of the grass and could clearly hear his younger brothers Dave and Buddy calling for him. He quickly pulled his arm off Gideon and rolled away from him before standing up just as they came running up to him.  
  
“Skinny dipping in the lake eh?” Bubba said as he looked at his brother, just before noting the still sleeping and exceptionally naked Gideon laying just a few feet away. “Gah! Naked fox!” Bubba practically shouted while pointing.  
  
Gideon’s ears started to twitch and rotate at the loud sound. As he raised his head and upper body off the ground, sitting on his tail. He rubbed his eyes trying to wake up and could make out three rabbit shapes all standing a few feet off and staring at him. “What ya never seen a naked fox before?” Was all he could think to say but then realized that of course, they’d never seen a naked fox before. Dummy. Gideon leaned over and got his legs under himself and stood up, brushing the grass off his fur. “Well take a look then!” he said with a chuckle.  
  
“Gid!” Tom said with surprise.  
  
“Great pumpkins”, Dave muttered looking at the lower half of the fox.  
  
“Wow”, was all buddy could say as he practically crawled through his brother to get behind him.  
  
“Gid, stop showing off and put your cloths on” Tom said as he threw the fox’s clothes over to him. Tom then also got dressed quickly. “What are you guys doing up here anyway?”  
  
“We came up to get you, Ma saw you guys walking to the lake and didn’t want you out after dark.” Dave said.  
  
“What are we kits?” Tom said angrily. “Alright, let’s get back then”, he said with more anger than he probably should have as he took off down the trail. He was insanely nervous that they had been ‘caught’ and if so wanted to get the aftermath over with quickly.  
  
It was a long walk back to the house, no one said anything and everyone was trying to figure out what everyone else was thinking. In reality, Tom was mad and afraid, Gideon was sad and guilty and the two younger brothers were smiling at each other.  
  
Once back at the house, Gideon yawned and started to say his good byes. He gave bonnie a hug and thanked her for the delicious meal. He noticed that she seemed a bit preoccupied. Gideon said goodbye to the random rabbits in the front room and left through the front door.  
  
Tom followed him out to the van. Gideon got inside and quietly said, “Ah’m sorry if ah got ya in any trouble Tom, ah really didn’t mean ta.”  
  
“You didn’t do anything wrong Gid!” Tom instantly replied. “I might have but we’re both adults here, in the end our opinions are the only ones that really matter.” Tom said with a scowl.  
  
“Well have a good night, maybe ah’ll see ya next week. Till then, take care Tom.” Gideon said in a subdued manner. He started the van and turned around in the driveway. Tom watched the mammal that he was now convinced was going to be his future boyfriend weather the fox like it or not drive out to the highway and back to town.  
  
Tom walked back to the house slowly, and as he suspected, Bonnie was waiting for him inside, “Tom, bedroom, now”, as she pointed to the east burrow entrance. Dave and Buddy were snickering not far off and Tom shot them a death glare, Dave stopped laughing but buddy only got louder.  
  
In Tom’s room the two of them sat on the bed again. “Look Ma, I don’t know what they told you, but it’s probably not true, or maybe it is, but in either case this is my decision.”  
  
“Tom, I know you’re an adult, but you’re still a young one. Your Father and I have some input into your future surely? You know you are first in line for taking over the farm we’ve been working toward that with you since you became an adult. Until a week ago that had been the plan for the last 6 years. And we’ve been around the block you know, we might know something about how life works.”  
  
Tom couldn’t think of anything to say and sat silently.  
  
Bonnie continued, “Your brothers just said that you and Gid were skinny dipping at the lake. Now that alone wouldn’t mean anything, but coupled with your recent erratic behavior and spending your time with Gideon, talking to him under a tree, spending the night with him and most of all sitting next to him at supper, which you know is rabbit etiquette for showing courtship status. It really only adds up to one thing, you have a crush, or an infatuation with Gideon.”  
  
There was then a long awkward silence.  
  
“Well? Anything to say?”  
  
“No.”  
  
Bonnie sighed and put her arms around her son’s shoulders, talking to him close and soft in his ear. “Honey, I know you’re anxious for a mate. I know you’re well past due for one. The yearning for one starts to overshadow everything else, it happens to all of us. Now will you look at me and answer a question for me honestly?”  
  
Tom turned to look at his Mother’s soft eyes. “Yes.”  
  
“First, how sure are you that you want a male life-mate?”  
  
It wasn’t exactly the question he was expecting. “Well pretty sure actually, I mean I’ve been on a few dates with Does and never felt anything like I fell for…” He stopped himself before he said something concrete.  
  
“Ok, but that was some time ago right? Is it possible that it’s just your… urges that are spiking and getting the better of you?”  
  
“No I…” Tom stopped. That isn’t it... is it?  
  
“I don’t know Ma, I have strong feelings for Gideon, but I don’t think he feels the same way, he doesn’t want a bunny mate, he as much as said so. I just can’t help feeling that he is the one I want to be with though.”  
  
“Ok Tom, can you do something for me? Your sisters are already in full matchmaking mode for you. Will you please honestly try dating for a bit before you make a final decision to go after Gideon? It’ll either clear your mind or strengthen you’re resolve, there’s no downside right?”  
  
“I... guess not. I’ll give it a try.”  
  
“An honest try Tom! Really give yourself every chance! You deserve it!” Bonnie said shaking her son’s shoulders.  
  
“Ok ok, I’ll keep an open mind.” Tom relented. “It’s been a long day, I think I’ll just go to bed…”  
  
“Alright son, I’ll leave you in your sister’s hands.”  
  
“Gee thanks, you really don’t care about me do you!” Tom joked.  
  
“Very funny!” Bonnie said just before closing the door.  
  
But yeah, thanks a lot. Tom thought to himself as he got undressed and got into bed. He did not like the way this was going at all.  
  
\-----  
  
Gideon got home feeling a bit bad for Tom, but it was probably for the best in the long run he had convinced himself. He took his shirt off and tossed it on the floor, then unbuttoned his pants and left them sitting next to the shirt. An amber snout, the couch and the TV were his family tonight.  
  
Half way through the beer the TV was all but ignored as memories of the lake swirled uninvited in his head. Tom’s beauty made him forget everything he thought about rabbits, it transcended species, Tom was just a wonderfully beautiful male. He’d enjoyed playing with him in the water and the feeling when he –put an arm over his back on the grass… The alcohol was making his head buzz and Tom’s visage was making his heart purr.  
  
His paws slipped sown under his boxer’s waist band and he grabbed his sheath with both paws, squeezing and rubbing it up and down. His erection grew quickly and he had to shove his boxers down to his ankles to free it. He looked down at himself, sporting a firm canine penis, bright red and glistening wet in the light of the floor lamp. He wrapped one hand around the base below the knot and used the other to stroke himself. He thought about lying with Tom, snuggling his soft fur and licking his ears.  
  
Gideon’s tail was flicking and thumping against the couch as he hunched his hips and moved his cock though his wet paw. “Ah, Tom!” Gideon called out as he peaked and came. Cum shot up to his chest and over his belly fur, slowly seeping down into his fur fibers as he panted and held himself. He softly stroked the underside of the tip with a finger pad as his orgasm lingered. Finally he gave himself a squeeze after the spasms subsided to get the last of the cum out and let his cock rest against his lower belly till it slowly slipped back inside its fuzzy home. “Tom…” Gid said one more time as he got up and headed to the shower to clean himself up.  
  
\-----  
  
The following week was hard on both of the mammals. Tom has a lineup of dates coordinated by a literal herd of his sisters. He had convinced them to limit it to only one per evening but even that was a daunting amount of work. Mentally of course, Tom could pull, clean and stack 10 crates of carrots a day but, having to dress up and be a perfect gentleman for an unknown Doe was a lot to ask of him.  
  
Tom played the part though, he was at least proud of doing that much. He was charming and most of the dates seemed to go well. His sisters did a good job picking out nice does, though he hadn’t found anyone especially interesting from their looks or conversation so far. His sisters were getting a little annoyed that he wasn’t showing any special interest in anyone so far.  
  
Gideon had been spending the week going from moon eyed calf to raging classic Gideon hour by hour all week depending on how he was feeling about the Tom situation at any particular time. He loved the guy, but would then then feel insanely guilty for doing so. He had decided though that he was going to ask Tom to help him prep for and go to the Produce festival this weekend. He was making a special set of pies for the Hopps Farms booth and could use the help, afterwards they could have fun at the festival together.  
  
In the evenings he bucked up his courage and cleaned his house, one room a night till it was looking fairly respectable. If Tom actually spent the night again this weekend, Gideon wouldn’t have to be ashamed of looking like a bum fox anymore and that lifted his spirits a lot.  
  
On Thursday he decided to head out to the farm to ask Tom in person using the excuse of needing more produce for the festival for showing up unannounced. He drove out early evening after closing the shop. He pulled up to the main house and hopped out, walking up to the front door happy to see Tom even if for just a bit.  
  
Bonnie answered the door and was surprised to see who was there. “Oh Gideon! We weren’t expecting you today. What’s up?”  
  
“Oh uh well I was running short on some supplies for the festival pies I’m making tomorrow and I thought maybe Tom could pull me a couple of things from your storehouse?”  
  
“Well I’m sure he would but he’s out on a date tonight. Let me see who else is around, just a second Gid.” Bonnie said and she shut the door without inviting him inside which was unusual.  
  
Gideon reeled from the news that Tom was on a date as well as for being made to wait on the porch like some traveling salesman. He stepped back away from the door, wondering if he should just leave when it suddenly opened again and an older doe stepped out. “Hi I’m Janene, I can help you Gideon.”  
  
“Ah ok, well I just need a flat of strawberries, I was a bit short.” Gid didn’t really need anything, but he was stuck now. They walked to the storeroom in silence till Gideon spoke up with reservation, “So Tom is on a date tonight I hear? Is it someone he’s serious about?”  
  
Janene stopped dead in her tracks at the door to the storeroom and turned to face Gideon with a serious expression on her face. “Listen Gid, Tom needs a mate. A doe mate. Understand? Why don’t you stop teasing him and let him make the right decision here hmm?”  
  
Gideon stood still, shocked at the spite in her words. “Wull ah wasn’t…” he stammered a bit but Janene continued cutting him off.  
  
“You don’t even need anything do you, a single flat of strawberries? Come on. You came out here to see Tom didn’t you. Maybe invite him to the festival with you or something? Well he’s going with a doe of his choice so you can just lay off him.”  
  
“Ah guess ah’ll just go then.” Gid said dejectedly. She’d had pegged him completely, there wasn’t anything he could say. He turned and walked quickly back to his van and headed back home.  
  
Janene smirked and headed back to the house to announce her success at pushing their agenda forward to her sisters.  
  
All the way home Gideon would start to get livid gripping the steering wheel and gritting his teeth, but then instantly remember than even he thought that Tom getting mixed up with him was a bad idea and had to convince himself that though Janene was a first class jerk, she was 100% right after all.  
  
\-----  
  
The next day Gideon was busy baking pies and other goodies for the produce festival on Saturday. He was so busy he didn’t have time to think about being depressed about losing Tom. He baked and baked the entire day away, he did think how nice it would have been to have a second pair of paws at times but then got right back to work. It was so late by the time he was done he just collapsed onto his bed fully clothed and decided to wait till morning to clean up.  
  
The next day the baker fox got himself up and showered. It was time to devote himself entirely to his profession again and get this romance crap out of the way once again. He packed his van with the festival treats and headed over to the fair grounds. He pulled up behind the Hopps booth and opened the back of the van, taking out the first tray of pies. He turned and there was Tom standing there. Fark. Gideon hadn’t even thought about the fact that of course Tom would be helping to set up.  
  
Gideon handed Tom the tray without saying anything and went back to get another tray. The two of them set out the pies, tarts and cookies in silence. When they were finished Gideon was heading to the door of his van when Tom spoke, “Gid, I uh...” The fox just continued to get into his van without saying anything, he did put his arm out and give a little wave as he left the grounds but he didn’t look back.  
  
Gideon had originally advertised that the shop was going to be closed that day but almost decided to open it to give him something to do. But no one would come by any way with everyone being at the festival. He sat around his stupidly clean apartment getting madder and madder. He wanted to punch a hole in something more than anything else, but he wasn’t 13 anymore and stopped well short of actually acting out on it.  
  
By noon he was hungry and he knew that wasn’t helping. With a sigh Gideon decided to walk down to the fairgrounds and at least participate in the festival, get something tasty and maybe his mood will improve. If nothing else he should schmooze with his customers.  
  
Gideon changed into his good jeans and blue checked long sleeve shirt. He put on a pink cap on with the name of his bakery on it “Gideon Grey’s Really Good Baked Stuff”. He brushed his fur a bit and admired himself in the mirror, putting on a customer friendly smile and headed out the door.  
  
Bunnyburrow was not a huge town and it only took about 10 minutes for the fox to pad his way over to the fairgrounds from the shop. He headed straight for the food booths and got himself a fish on a stick, a deep fried pickle with mustard and a large carrot soda, then made his way to an open spot at one of the picnic tables. He nodded to a couple of bunnies enjoying their meals and then proceeded to ravage his own food much to their chagrin.  
  
Once his hunger was taken care of, the next stop was the beer garden for a nice 16 Oz Amber Snout on tap. Gid found a table with a couple of regular customers and headed their way.  
  
“Hey Gene, Mrs Badger. Enjoying the festival?” Gideon asked as he pulled up a chair.  
  
“Hiya Gideon, yeah it’s fine and all. Just a nice day to be outside with a cold beer really.”  
  
“Got that right Gene!” Gideon took a big swig of the fizzy amber liquid.  
  
“It’s good to see you Gideon, I keep missing you at your shop, your always busy with deliveries.”  
  
“Sorry about that Mrs. Badger, Ah’ll make something special for ya the next time ya come in” Gideon said with a wink.  
  
Gideon drank his beer and chatted till he was feeling in a much more mellow and carefree mood.  
  
Elsewhere on the grounds, Tom was eating a snack and sitting on a hay bale with a tall doe named Fawn. They had gone on a date earlier in the week. Tom was supposed to pick the doe from the best date the week before and then go on a day date on the weekend.  
  
“You know Tom, I almost turned you down for the date today.”  
  
“What really? Why?”  
  
“Well you didn’t really seem to be into the fact that we were even having a date the first time. You’re an awesome buck, but I didn’t get the idea that you liked me too much.”  
  
“No actually I did like you the best! But to be honest I picked you because our date seemed much less like a date than a dinner with a friend.”  
  
“Ooof! Did you just friend-zone me?”  
  
Tom laughed, “I guess I did, sorry Fawn. You are a great gal though.”  
  
“Well no worries, I could tell. I finally accepted simply because it did sound like fun to be escorted to the festival anyway. So tell me… is it because you already have someone else in mind?”  
  
Tom just looked down at his plate and nodded.  
  
“So why don’t you just tell your sisters and call that pack of does off?”  
  
“Well that’s where it gets a bit complicated…” Tom said now gazing off in the distance.  
  
Fawn leaned in close and said, “Let me guess… is it a buck?”  
  
Tom looked at her with surprise.  
  
“I knew it!” she said with a big smile.  
  
“Well you only know the half of it I’m afraid”, Tom said now looking sheepish.  
  
“Ok, out with it.”  
  
Tom sighed, “Now don’t laugh and please don’t tell anyone. But I am in love with the baker fox, Gideon Grey”.  
  
Fawns face took on a look of astonishment, “Ok, I would never in a million years have guessed that.” Fawn noticed Tom wince a bit as she said that and quickly followed up with “Aw Tom don’t feel bad, I think that’s great actually. Does he like you back?”  
  
Now Tom winced even harder, “I don’t know. I think he does but he seems like he’s holding back for some reason. Or maybe I’m reading him wrong and he really doesn’t.”  
  
“Well there is only one way to find out Tom, you have to just go to him and ask. By word or by deed, it’s up to you, but you’ll never move on if you don’t find out as soon as possible one way or the other right?”  
  
Tom looked up at her with wide eyes, “You’re absolutely right! At least if he turns me down I can look for another buck. I mean I hope he doesn’t, I really hope he doesn’t, but I have to find out sooner or later… no I have to find out today!”  
  
Just then a large mass of red-orange fur with dark points and a cream belly came up close to the two rabbits…  
  
\-----  
  
Gideon had finished his beer and was feeling like a fine fox as he exited the beer garden. He purposely avoided the Hopps produce booth simply to avoid possibly ruining the best attitude he’d had in a long while. He checked out the other vendors. He was pretty much in bed with the Hopps’ farm for most of his produce but he liked to keep an eye on the other farms and keep Mr. Hopps on his toes.  
  
Later in the day, while wandering between booths, he spied a very familiar well built buck rabbit sitting with a doe on a hay bale two isles over. “Well there goes my good mood already” he muttered as he watched them from afar. They seemed to be laughing, then Tom seemed to be looking down at his feet, then she seemed to be whispering something too him and he looked at her with surprise.  
  
Gideon was rocking back and forth from one paw to the other. Don’t do it Gid, stay calm, let them be. He noticed that he was starting to actually growl out loud scaring a couple of bunnies nearby into scampering away from him.  
  
Finally, he knew what he had to do. Gideon stood up straight, adjusted his shirt and hat, took a deep breath and quickly padded his way between the booths over to where the pair of rabbits sat, stopping about a foot away from them.  
  
\-----  
  
The fox that had just abruptly walked up to them looked at Fawn and announced, “Excuse me miss, I have to talk to my boyfriend in private if you don’t mind”  
  
There was a heavy silence as if the entire festival stopped at that moment. Fawn just looked at Gideon and said, “Of course Gideon, he’s all yours” with a smile.  
  
Gid was caught off guard by her quick acceptance of the situation but he continued with his unplanned plan and reached out, grabbing Tom’s paw and practically dragging him out of the fairgrounds. Tom was in a bit of a shock at everything that just happened but he had no desire to fight Gideon over it, even though he was king of hurting his paw with his tight grip.  
  
Gideon didn’t let Tom go till they reached his apartment and he had shut the door behind him. Tom was rubbing his wrist which was hurting some when Gideon started talking.  
  
“Ok Tom, that’s it. No more datin, no more interfering sisters and no more worry about ‘what will everyone think’. Ah’m statin’ mah intentions here and now and as clearly as possible. Ah want ya fer mah boyfriend.” He announced with resolute assurance. Gid had run out of team but quickly added in a quieter voice, “Uh, if you’ll have me that is…”  
  
Tom just stared at him for a bit, then looked around the apartment which had been cleaned spotless, other than the old couch and lamp of course. “Did you clean up... for me?”  
  
“Well yeah, ya know… I mean…” Gideon was stammering, “So ya haven’t answered mah claim of intent, what is it yes or no?” Gideon stood all puffed up again.  
  
Tom came up to the fox, leaned over and pressed his nose into the soft fur around the fox’s neck. He wrapped his arms around his midsection and softly spoke up, “Dear Gideon, since that first night I spent on your couch, I have wanted to be your boyfriend.”  
  
Gideon looked down at Tom and he lowered his muzzle till his nose was buried in the nape of Toms neck as well. Gideon wrapped his paws behind Tom’s back and they hugged for what seemed like an eternity, each other’s nose buried in their partner’s fur. Both getting to know each other’s scent intimately as at that moment, they expected to be enjoying them for a long time to come.  
  
The odd pair of mammals headed to the couch, Gideon took his shirt off and Tom followed suit. Gid laid down on the couch, needing a rest after the afternoon’s activates. He was feeling suddenly very tired after all the adrenaline left him. Gideon was lying on his side and Tom sat down at the fox’s belly and laid himself out in front of him his tail pressed to Gid’s belly.  
  
Gideon put his arms around the rabbit and held him close to his chest while tom wrapped his arms around the fox’s. The pair was probably happier at that moment than either of them had ever been in their lives and they wanted it to last forever. Forever was only about five minutes before Gideon fell asleep and started snoring softly. Tom’s forever lasted another 20 till he too fell asleep to the soothing sounds an comforting grasp of his new fox mate.  
  
\-----  
  
Their idyllic rest as new lovers was short lived. Only an hour later there was a loud angry sounding banging on the front door. “Gideon Grey! Tom! I know you’re in there, answer this door right now!” The loud banging continued.  
  
Tom jolted awake first. “Carrots! It’s Pa and he’s madder than a hornet. Gid! Wake up!”  
  
“Huh, what’s going on? Wha… who the hell is banging on my door?” Gideon said in angry confusion as he was still half asleep.  
  
“It’s Pa, put your shirt on, I’ll answer the door!” Tom headed for the door, smoothing his shirt down just before pulling the door open. “Pa what’s going on? What on earth has gotten into you?”  
  
Stu pushed Tom out of the way and made his way into the apartment. “Gideon, what the hell did you do to my boy? You were seen dragging him out of the festival and up here. I want to know what the hell you were doing!”  
  
“Pa, he didn’t do anything, he wasn’t dragging me, he was leading me by the paw. He just wanted to talk, away from the festival. I know Gid can seem a little ruff to a bunny at times but it was nothing bad I swear.”  
  
Stu was fuming and was finding it hard to let go of his full head of steam. He stared at Gideon who was staying quiet and looking surprisingly meek about the whole situation.  
  
“Alright tom, I’ll take your word for it, but you have to leave with me now, the festival is over, we’re going home.”  
  
“If it’s alright Pa, I’d rather stay here for the night.”  
  
“It is not alright! You are coming with me now!” Stu reached out and grabbed Tom by the wrist. Tom flinched and yanked his paw back. Stu looked like he had been slapped, “You did hurt him! You... you... fox!”  
  
“Ok Stu, ah’m trying to stay calm here, but you are yelling at me in mah own home and ah can’t have that. Tom can go or stay, it’s entirely his decision, but you have to leave now.”  
  
“Your home? Who do you think paid for this home of yours?” Stu shot back.  
  
Gideon had just about had it, he was shaking with anger but somehow managed to remain calm for Tom’s sake.  
  
Stu finally realized that maybe he had gone a bit too far with that last remark and backtracked a bit. “Tom, you got 5 minutes to talk to Gideon and the two of you to come to your senses. I’ll be waiting outside for you…”  
  
“I don’t need 5 minutes Pa, I’m staying the night here, I’ll be home in the morning, Gid will drive me. Just go home and rest, stop worrying about me so much, I’m 6 years older than you were when you started a family for carrot’s sake.”  
  
Stu had the biggest furrowed frown on his face that Gideon had ever seen on a rabbit as he turned and stomped out the door. They could hear him stomping all the way down the stairs even with the door closed behind him.  
  
Gideon pulled his shirt off again, it was drenched in sweat. He sat back down on the couch and put his muzzle in his paws. “That’s just the start of the crap storm that’s comin’ fer us ya know.”  
  
Tom might have had second thoughts if this had happened earlier in the day, but after his 20 minutes of fox cuddling time, he knew without doubt that there wasn’t anything that was going to keep him from Gideon’s side.  
  
Tom was more hopeful than the tired fox was, “No… I’m betting that that was the worst of it. Not the last of course, but the worst is probably over. Now... uh, you got any food around here? All that drama made me hungry!”  
  
“Consider the contents of the fridge ta be yers Tom. Ya got free run a my house if ya like. I’ll get ya a key made as soon as ah can.”  
  
Tom liked the sound of that. He turned and wiggled his tail at the fox as he headed to the fridge to root around. “You want anything?”  
  
“Naw, ah’m actually not feelin very hungry at all after all that. Ah’ll prolly skip dinner tonight. Goodness knows I dun need it”, Gid chuckled as he patted his belly.  
  
“I’m really sorry about my Pa, I hope he doesn’t brood about it too long.” Tom rejoined Gideon on the couch, this time just leaning against him as they both sat up.  
  
Gid put an arm around Tom’s midsection. “Aw Stu’s a good rabbit, he’s just worried fer ya. Poor guy, first Judy, now you. He must think we foxes are positively out to get his family!”  
  
Tom sighed, “I didn’t even think about that. Judy seems like she’s so far away I don’t even think about her that often any more I hate to say. Now you’re making me feel bad for him! How dare you!” Tom reached up to push at the end of Gideon’s muzzle.  
  
“Oh you dun wanna get inta a wrasslin match with me Tom!” Gid grabbed Tom around the waist with both arms and lifted him off the couch helplessly, then placed him in his lap, holding him there tightly. Tom grabbed the fox’s arms an managed to force them apart just enough to wiggle out of his grasp. His softer bunny fur made him a little bit slippery. Gideon lunched at the escaping rabbit and grabbed a foot, scrambling off the couch and onto the floor, pushing the coffee table sideways as he grasped at the bunny. Tom laughed and shook his hind paw free, then turned and leapt at Gideon which surprised him. Gideon ducked but Tom grabbed him around his thick neck, swung around him and ended up straddling Gideon’s back, hanging on for dear life as Gideon tried to shake him off. Finally the Fox collapsed on the floor panting; he had quickly run out of the energy needed to keep up the match any longer.  
  
Tom laid down on top of the fox’s back and wiggled himself into his fur, “Mmmm, I could go to sleep right here”, he murmured, his muzzle just under one of Gideon’s ears.  
  
Gideon groaned, “Ugh, speaking of sleep. It’s been a long exhausting day. We should get to sleep, find something fun ta do tomorra”.  
  
Tom reluctantly slid off of his comfy red furred bed and sat back on the couch. He watched Gideon pick himself up off the floor with a bit of effort and head towards his bedroom. Gideon reached the doorway and turned to see Tom still sitting on the couch looking sideways at the cushions.  
  
“Well are ya comin ta bed or not?”  
  
“Uh.. yeah! I mean, I wasn’t sure if…”  
  
“Now who would make their boyfriend sleep on the couch?” Gideon said sounding a bit exasperated.  
  
“Right, of course Gid”, Tom said as he hopped to his feet and followed the fox to his bedroom. He was still feeing nervous though, suddenly it was all becoming a noticeably real. No more fantasies safely locked inside his head, he was actually following a large male fox into his bedroom for the night.  
  
Gideon took his clothes off and climbed into bed naked, laying on his side looking up at Tom. Tom was visibly nervous as he was undressing himself.  
  
“Relax bunny, I really just want ta get ta sleep, but I wanna do so snuggling with my boyfriend, fer the first time a mah life, I wanna know what it’s like ta have someone to hold onto at night. Don’t you?”  
  
“Yes!” Tom blurted out. “More than anything. It’s just a big step, I’m sorry I’m nervous.”  
  
“Well just come over here and relax, just like on the couch. We’ll take things slow. Not like ah know what ah’m doin neither. We’ll figure it out together alright?”  
  
Tom looked around for the light switch and turned it off and climbed into bed. He snuggled up against the fox’s belly in the dark and Gideon wrapped his arms around him in a gentle hug. Gid could feel the rabbit finally relax in his arms and the two of them slowly drifted off to sleep for the first time as a couple.  
  
\-----  
  
The pair slept well into daylight the next day. Tom woke first, immediately realizing that he was still snuggled in the arms of a fox. He turned to face the sleeping red and yellow fuzz ball. He couldn’t believe he was this close to Gideon Grey, lying in his arms. He was always the giant among the bunny herd, but here he felt usually small and a little vulnerable, it was an interesting feeling. Tom ran his paws over the fox’s deep chest fur, still not believing he was doing it for real and not just imagining it again in his bed at home.  
  
Tom looked up at the foxes big snoring head, he slowly ran a paw down the fox’s neck and over his shoulder, down his side and finally over the hump of his hip. This has to be some kind of dream, Tom couldn’t help thinking to himself.  
  
Just then Gideon snerked and woke up, he let go of his hugging pillow and rolled onto his back rubbing his eyes. Wait, that didn’t feel like his hugging pillow, that felt like…  
  
“Good morning big, orange and fuzzy. You sleep well last night?” Tom sat up beside him.  
  
“Best night’s sleep ah had as long as ah can remember!”  
  
“Me too actually” Tom said as he ran his paws through Gideon’s belly fur.  
  
“Heh, what you up to there rabbit?”  
  
“Oh... I’m just exploring…” Tom said quietly.  
  
Gideon didn’t say anything and just let the rabbits soft paws wander through his fur. He stuffed another pillow under his head so he could watch was the rabbit was doing though.  
  
Tom traced his paws over the foxes round belly and was slowly progressing further south. He noticed the fur got thinner and softer the closer he got to the canines obvious male parts. He could feel more of the fox’s body heat in this area as well. Tom intentionally avoided touching Gideon’s “Private area” and rubbed his lower belly, then working his way down the fox’s hips. His eyes were locked onto the canines sheath and testicles the entire time though.  
  
Gideon’s sheath was large and thick from the rabbit’s perspective, and covered with a fine layer of fur, it laid sideways a bit on his lower belly, sagging under its own weight. The end had an obvious closed pucker where a small ring of bare skin was visible and it was very noticeably dark colored next to the soft cream of the fur that surrounded it.  
  
Toms paws wandered down the foxes legs a bit then made their way back up the inside of his thighs. Gideon brought his knees up and spread his legs out at the touching. Tom worked his claws down through the warm fur on the inside of the fox’s legs, his paws finally stopping when they reached the end of where his legs met his torso. It was the warmest area on the fox’s body so far and the backs of his paws were lightly brushing the fine fur of Gideon’s scrotum.  
  
Gideon breathed in loudly as Tom cupped his balls softly in his paws, feeling the soft skin surrounding them, gently caressing them with care. Gideon reached out and caressed the rabbits lower back, just above his tail.  
  
“Tom…” Gideon started to say.  
  
Tom went to look at Gid’s face but his eyes stopped when he saw the fox’s sheath was much thicker than it was before and his penis was already poking out from the dark opening by a couple of inches. Tom was taken aback a bit at its size and dark red color, plus he was already dripping, leaving small clear shiny spots on his belly fur.  
  
Gideon noticed Tom’s hesitation at seeing him becoming aroused, not that he should have expected the fox not too, he was teasing him something terribly. “Ya… Ya want me to finish myself off while you watch?”  
  
Tom looked up at Gid and wasn’t sure what else to do at this point so he nodded yes. Tom turned a bit to face the fox and Gideon noticed a distinct flash of pink from between the rabbit’s legs. Gideon grinned, “Say Tom. Why don’t you move between my legs there, don’t step on mah tail, straddle it. Get up on yer knees and you can show each other what we got at the same time ok?”  
  
Tom looked down his belly and saw his own erection was on full display. He hadn’t even noticed he was so captivated by the fox. He had a sudden pang of embarrassment and his ears felt hot. Tom avoided the fox’s eyes and made his way down to the end of the bed and straddled Gideon’s tail as he asked.  
  
“Now you watch me and ah’ll watch you ok?”  
  
The two boys took control of their own equipment like they had done hundreds of times alone. Tom wrapped one paw around the base of his pink conical rabbit cock, using his other paw he cupped his testicles and gently rubbed them.  
  
Gideon used a paw to squeeze his sheath and rub it up and down his shaft while watching the rabbit. It only took a few seconds before he was fully erect. Neither of them had ever even seen the genitalia of the other species before. It seemed to Gideon that Tom was surprisingly large for a rabbit. His cock was wider at the base than his was and almost as long, but had a slender taper after a thick part at the base all the way to the tip.  
  
Gideon was average fox sized and his shaft was a constant thickness up to the head which then had a nice tapered end. Tom stroked himself dry using the soft fur of the palm of his paw while Gideon used the copious pre that flowed from his tip to lubricate himself and his paw as he stroked his own length.  
  
Tom noticed that the end of Gideon’s sheath was getting fatter and just then Gideon used his free paw to pull his sheath down exposing his thick knot. Tom let out a “Wha?” at the sight of it.  
  
Gideon looked a bit self-conscious as he said, “That’s ah, mah ‘knot’. Ah’ll explain it another time, ah’m getting really close now.” He said noticeably breathing harder.  
  
The pair continued to stroke themselves, fascinated by the other’s equipment and technique of self-pleasuring. Gideon started making little whining noises in time with his stroking as he was quickly reaching his peak. His tail curled up under Tom reflexively and curled around his back. Gideon reached climax first and with a muffled ‘yip’ the first streamer of cum erupted from his cock. It nearly struck his muzzle he came so hard, several more spurts of the silvery white liquid landed on his cream colored belly while Tom watched wide eyed.  
  
Tom didn’t have any time to enjoy the spectacle as Gideon’s tail was rubbing him between his legs and the strong scent of the fox’s cum was making his head swim. He wasn’t sure if Gideon wanted him to cum on him but there wasn’t much else it could go when the rabbit reached his own orgasm. Tom leaned forward with his paw on Gideon’s belly as he came onto the fox, adding his own streamers of the sticky white stuff to the mess that was already soaking into the fox’s fur.  
  
Tom let go of himself and put both arms out and down onto the bed on either side of Gideon’s belly. He was panting hard himself now. His cock was hanging just above Gideon’s and drooling the last of his orgasm on top of him. Tom was specifically trying to not collapse onto the fox.  
  
Gideon was all smiles though and he grabbed the bunny under his arms and pulled him um then down do their bellies met, squishing their softening members into each other’s fur. He then wiggled his belly back and forth against Tom’s working their combined fluids into each other’s bellies.  
  
Gideon had managed to rub the bunnies cock into his wet slippery belly fur causing the rabbit to have a quick second orgasm which he noticed as the rabbit’s knees gripped him tightly along his sides and Tom humped into his belly trying to extend the feeling as long as he could. Finally the rabbit was exhausted and collapsed with his arms and legs spread out over Gideon’s body and lay flat on his warm fox bed.  
  
Gideon chuckled and skritched Toms neck with his dull claws as he lay his head on the fox’s chest. After some time, Tom seemed content to spend all day in that position but Gideon was starting to get a little itchy from the drying fluids in his fur, he needed a shower.  
  
“Hey Tom…” Gideon said softly. There was no response so he nudged his rabbit blanket and said “Tom! Time ta get up!”  
  
“Nooooo” came a muffled reply, just a few more hours.  
  
“Ah distinctly heard ya say that you was comin home to yer Pa ‘this morning’ and it’s already almost noon. Ah dun want you or ah ta be in any more trouble than we already are.”  
  
“Uh, you’re right.” Tom replied dejectedly as he carefully got himself off from on top of Gideon. Tom, ran a paw though his wet fur, “Geeze you’re a messy fox Gid. I never even came on myself before. I always had a towel or a shirt or something handy. I usually never even got my paws dirty and now I’m almost completely covered in…”  
  
“You look cute that way rabbit. Uh, I can call you cute right?”  
  
Tom wiped his wet paw on a dry portion of Gideon’s chest and leaned down to give him a smooch on the muzzle. “Yes, you are allowed to call me cute all you want”  
  
“Good, now let’s get your cute naked messy self into the shower and clean you up. Ah’m not sendin you home with that much fox scent on ya!”  
  
Tom was a bit disappointed, other than wanting to clean off the wetness before it dried, he really didn’t mind smelling like his mate at this point and would rather just leave it that way. But he knew it would just enrage his Father needlessly so he agreed to the shower.  
  
They washed each other off thoroughly in the shower using Gideon’s favorite strawberry scented shampoo. Even though they were spent, they enjoyed running their paws over each other’s bodies, feeling the differences between their furs and the shapes of their various parts.  
  
The drive back to the Hopps farm was quiet. Neither of them had anything to say, they were just enjoying the remnants of the super nova afterglow of their first time together. All too quickly, Gideon was pulling into the driveway. They both noticed that Bonnie and Stu were sitting out on the front porch and in an instant the afterglow completely vanished.  
  
“You want me ta come in with ya? I’ll stand by ya side any time, I want ya ta know that.” Gideon said seriously.  
  
“Thanks Gid, but no. I hate to say it, but that would probably just make things worse.”  
  
Gideon noticeably scowled at that remark. “Well take care Tom, and if ya need it, my place is your place, understand?”  
  
“Yes Gid, thanks.” Tom opened the van door and slid out. He put on his best brave face and quickly walked toward the house. Gideon saw him greet his parents and Bonnie followed Tom inside the house. Stu stood on the porch staring at Gideon and the fox took that as his cue to turn around and head back home.  
  
The rest of the day Gideon just cleaned his house and the shop to busy himself while he worried about his boyfriend.  
  
\-----  
  
Once more Tom found himself back in his bedroom sitting on his bed with his Mother, but this time with a fuming Father standing against the inside of the door as well. He could not be more trapped and he was on the verge of a true panic.  
  
“Tom…” Bonnie began.  
  
Tom had already tuned her out. He just sat there looking down at his toes as he thought about Gideon, the swim at the lake, how the fox had claimed him as a mate at the festival and their morning together, while his parents took turns going on and on about… something.  
  
“He’s a fox for heaven’s sake” … “And don’t you bring Judy into this!”… “You know they mate for life right?” ... “It’s not fair to Gideon” … “What about kits?” … “What about you taking over the farm?” … “Where did we go wrong?”  
  
Finally there was silence again, then “Well?”  
  
“Uh, well what?” Tom replied startled back to reality.  
  
“You’re Mother asked what you plan on doing now?”  
  
“Well I guess I should go check the stock levels and plan out the harvesting rosters for next week, if you’ll excuse me.” Tom said as he stood up and walked towards the door.  
  
Stu was taken aback by Tom’s out of the blue statement and actually moved aside as Tom reached for the door handle and let himself out of the room. Before he closed the door behind him Tom paused and put his head back into the room. “Oh and tell Janene and the others I won’t be going out on any more dates.”  
  
Stu and Bonnie just looked at each other blankly as Tom closed the door to his room behind him as he made his way out to start his chores.  
  
\-----  
  
It was Friday evening and Gideon had finished cleaning up the kitchen and closing the shop. The fox was about to start into his nightly after work Amber Snout and relax when there was a soft but frantic knocking at his door.  
  
Gideon got himself off the couch to answer it. “Tom! What ya doin here so late, everything ok?”  
  
“No everything isn’t ok”, Tom said as he huffed his way into the apartment. “Every time I think things have settled down and I‘ve made my case, it all starts back up again, especially with my sisters!”  
  
“Amber Snout?” Gideon asks, wiggling a beer he just took from the fridge.  
  
“Yes please.” Tom said taking the beer and downing half of it in one go.  
  
“Alright, come over ta the couch and tell me all about it” Gideon said in a reassuring tone. The two of them snuggled up together on the couch and Tom continued talking.  
  
“Apparently I’ve always been like their dream hunk growing up. And because they couldn’t have me themselves, they’ve had a pact for like the last 10 years that they would marry me off to the best doe they could find. Not that this was ever told to me. And then of course Pa has had me first in line to take over the farm and somehow dating you means that can’t happen any more? I don’t know. Anyway, I just had to get out for a couple days.”  
  
Gideon stroked Tom between his ears with a paw as he talked and the tense rabbit started to relax finally.  
  
“Well anyway, so uh... I made plans for us this weekend. Like… Big, big plans. I know it’s sudden and I hope you’ll just say yes and go along with it but if you say no… I’ll understand.”  
  
Gideon couldn’t imagine what big big plans might be. Go to the lake? Uh… run away and live in the woods?!?  
  
“I called my sister Judy and made plans for us to visit her and Nick in the city and.. spend a couple days just trying to figure things out with a couple that are in our nearly exact situation. I’ve got one of the farm trucks, we can leave first thing tomorrow morning and meet them for lunch, what do you think?”  
  
Gideon thought about it for a minute before replying. “Zootopia? Ah… ah nevah been. It seems so big and scary ya know. But ah guess if’n we got someone ta guide us around, ah guess ah can muster up the courage fer the trip. Especially if it’ll help you Tom”, Gideon finished while giving the smaller rabbit a hug.  
  
“Great, that’s a big load off my mind. By the way, we need to get you a cell phone! I could have called you about this earlier and not just showed up with the surprise at your door.”  
  
“Aw ah’m no good with new fangled compli-caty things.”  
  
“Gid you don’t even have a PHONE phone and those were invented like a hundred years ago! How to people place orders with you anyway?”  
  
“They come in the shop, place the order, pay and leave! Simple.”  
  
“I… guess…”  
  
“Well ah’m glad yer here for whatever reason, ah was terribly lonely this whole week without ya.” Gideon said nuzzling behind a long bunny ear and holding Tom close to his chest.  
  
“I missed you too Pie Fox”, Tom replied wiggling back into the snuggle. “Sigh, I want to rub fur with you so much but we gotta get up early tomorrow, we should get to bed if we want to be rested for the drive.”  
  
“Yer right about that, but it’s still great ta see ya and have a warm body ta share the bed with.”  
  
\-----  
  
Morning came and it was hard to get out of bed or even break from their sleeping snuggle and so of course got on the road late. Zootopia was only 200 miles away but the road there from Bunnyburrow was in hit or miss shape and the old farm truck wouldn’t go a single digit over 45 mph so the trip took almost 5 hours.  
  
Tom followed Judy’s instructions carefully and they arrived at the Central Precinct ZPD station at just 11 am, the time they were supposed to meet Judy and Nick for lunch. By the time they had parked and made their way through the front doors they were a bit late. Nick and Judy were hanging out at the front desk chatting with Clawhouser who was beside himself about meeting one of Judy’s brothers.  
  
The robust cheetah saw them coming through the door first and alerted Judy and Nick with an ear wincing high pitched squeal, “Heeere they come! Oh Em Gee”  
  
“Yikes Claw! I might have to file a workplace hearing damage complaint on you one of these days.” Nick admonished as he dug into one of his ringing ears with a finger.  
  
Tom ran up to Judy and gave his sister a huge hug. He then turned to Nick and said, “Glad to see you again Nick” as he shook his paw.  
  
“Good to see you Tom! You’re one of the few Hopps that doesn’t want to murder me!”  
  
“Oh Shush you!” Judy remarked with an elbow to nicks ribs as punctuation.  
  
Gideon stayed back a bit, there being no small about of controversy between him and Judy and by extension Nick as well. Though they were generally friendly he didn’t want to push anyone’s buttons.  
  
“Aw Gideon, come over here and give me a hug” Judy held her arms out and gave Gideon a hug to his chest. Gideon watched Nick nervously and was rewarded with a slit eyed smirk. After Judy has released him, Gideon turned to nick and shook his paw, “Nice to see you again too nick.”  
  
Suddenly from behind came an “Awwwwww aren’t you all just the cutest things!” from Clawhouser who was looking down on the scene with dreamy eyes.  
  
“Alright let’s all get out of here before a certain cheetah melts to the point of having to take the rest of the day off!” Judy announced as she turned towards the front door.  
  
“Have a nice lunch!” Clawhouser shouted after them before they managed to get out of the building.  
  
“Whew. Judy? Next time let’s just meet your relatives outside, would save us a lot of squeeing” Nick said as soon as they were out of cheetah ear shot.  
  
“So where should we go?” Nick asked Judy.  
  
“Well lunch is almost half over already so let’s just go to the park for some carrot dogs?”  
  
The foursome headed across to the park and hunted down the roaming hotdog vendor. “Hey Nick! Judy!” A raccoon pushing a food cart called out.  
  
“Hey there mask face, how about some lunch?” Nick said smoothly.  
  
“My name’s Rod, Nick… for the 50th time. What’ll ya have? Oh, for the newcomers, I got mealworm or carrot dogs, juice and carrot soda, a dollar each.”  
  
“Thanks stripy tail!” Nick hollered to the raccoon after they had gotten their food. The raccoon raised his middle finger to nick as he walked away with his cart which made Nick Laugh. He liked nothing more than to get a rise out of people.  
  
The pair of couples sat facing each other on the grass. The two rabbits looking at each other and the two foxes nervously avoiding looking at each other.  
  
Judy broke the silence. “So Tom… you and Gideon? When the heck did that happen? Gid worked for us for years and you two hardly talked. And since when were you gay anyway? I though the girls were all over you. I guess I haven’t kept up with the family as much as I should since I left home.”  
  
Tom was suddenly embarrassed talking to his sister about this… out in the open… with his mate and her both looking at him. “Welllll, you know, it was just like this one day, we started talking I guess? I’m not really sure it just kinda happened suddenly.”  
  
“Heh it’s alright, I know what you mean, these foxs can be quick charmers can’t they?”  
  
Gideon and Nick looked at each other briefly. “Hey Carrots, you know were right here right?” Nick asked.  
  
Judy just shot him an annoyed look so Nick turned back to Gideon and said, “Aw yeah, you know these rabbits, so emotional right? They just kind of suck you in somehow with their soft fur and big eyes. Some kind of hypnosis or something I think…” Nick was waving his arms around in circles. Judy was now glaring at Nick, Gideon laughed out loud and Nick stuck his tongue out at Judy causing everyone to erupt in a round of laughter.  
  
They made quite the scene, two foxes and two rabbits sitting and laughing like children in the middle of the park. Nick and Judy’s short lunch break was nearly over and they stood up to head back to the office.  
  
“Well Tom, Gideon. I’m afraid we’ll have to leave you to yourselves for the afternoon. Wish we could take you on a ride along but it takes two weeks for the paperwork and you didn’t give me enough time. Enjoy the park or wander around a bit. You got a cell phone right Tom? Don’t get lost. Meet us back at the station at 5pm and we’ll head out to dinner.”  
  
“Thanks Judy, we’ll do that. See you later” Tom said with a smile.  
  
“She’s a good doe Tom. Ya got a really great sister there.”  
  
“Don’t have to tell me! I wish I was a bit more like her, she was always so sure of everything she did or wanted.”  
  
“Ha, that’s for shore!” Gideon looked around at the imposing skyline. Hundreds of building dozens of stories tall surrounded the park.  
  
The two country mammals did a bunch of window shopping at the line of stores that were the building faces at street level. Neither one of them could believe how utterly expansive everything was. 50,000 Z watches sitting right there in the store front. That was more than Gideon would make in 10 years. The clothing was almost as bad. Even the food was expensive other than the hotdog cart anyway.  
  
Midafternoon the pair stopped at a pastry café that caught Gideon’s eye. It was fancy looking and all the treats looked like pieces of art. His face was glued to the display case and he smudged his nose against it more than once.  
  
“If you please sir, the glass?”  
  
“Oh uh, sorry m-mister.” Gideon stammered out as he used his sleeve to wipe his nose prints off the glass.  
  
“Is there something I can get you?” The polite yet somehow stern llama behind the counter asked.  
  
“Ah yeah ah’ll have the strawberry tart and Tom, whata ya want?” Gideon almost shouted at the rabbit who had claimed them a table in the crowded café.  
  
“Get me what you’re having!” Tom shouted back and the llama was looking more annoyed than ever.  
  
“Ah k. Two strawberry tarts and two coffees with milk please”  
  
The llama rolled his eyes at Gideon’s thick country drawl and uninspiring coffee order. “That’ll be 25.50 please”  
  
Gideon’s eyes almost bugged out of his head at the price, but he wasn’t going to embarrass himself any further and pulled out his wallet, handing the llama exactly 25 Z and two quarters. He took the bag with the pastries in it and the two coffees over to the Table Tom and dived into get while they were in line.  
  
“You would not believe what these two little tarts and a couple cups a coffee cost!”  
  
Tom started reaching for his wallet but Gid put his paw on his arm.” This un’s on me Tom, But if ya wanna get the next snack, be mah guest!”  
  
Gideon took a sip of his coffee… not bad. Nothing special, not worth $5 that’s for sure. Next was the tart. It looks amazing, like a sculpture that belonged in a museum. It was so nice looking he had a hard time jamming a fork into it to get a taste. After looking it over good, to Tom’s amusement and embarrassment as the llama was now staring at them both, Gideon finally dug his fork into the tart and brought up a large bit to his muzzle.  
  
Gideon looked thoughtful, as much as he could look thoughtful anyway as he chewed the tart and analyzed its taste, balance and mouth feel.  
  
“Well? What do you think of it?” Tom asked curiously.  
  
“All show, no go” Gideon stated out flatly.  
  
“Ah ok, yeah I didn’t think it was nearly as good as yours either. But since you paid for them, we might as well finish them right?”  
  
“Right”, the fox said with a frown. Gideon did NOT want to finish such a bland tart, but since they practically drained his wallet it might be their only meal of the day so he forced himself to clean his plate.  
  
The llama watched them eating and making disdainful faces. He almost got the Chef to come out and yell at them but they were just bumpkins, they couldn’t possible understand high class desserts even if they tried he though and didn’t bother the Chef with such petty things.  
  
“Hey Gid, imagine if you opened a place here. You’d make a fortune!”  
  
“Ah dunno Tom, Jus looking around you can see how ‘show’ has such a high place in the city here. Actual substance probably isn’t even appreciated.”  
  
“Don’t be that way Tom, that was just one shop. We shouldn’t stereotype city folk any more than they should us right?”  
  
“Aw, you’re right there Tom, dunno what ah was thinkin. Wanna head back ta the park and relax by the fountain till the Judes and her hubby get off work?”  
  
“Sounds good purr fox.”  
  
Gideon looked at tom with an open mouthed smile and wrapped an arm around him as they walked back to central park.  
  
\-----  
  
Nick and Judy had ended patrol a bit early to try and get their paperwork finished before 5pm. Judy stopped by Clawhauser’s desk on the way to their office to chat with him about dinner plans.  
  
“So do you know of any new places where interspecies couples are openly welcomed we could go to?”  
  
“Lemmie think” The big cat sing-songed.  
  
“Or…” Judy jumped up to sit on the edge of his desk and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Any nice place where people like Tom and Gideon can feel comfortable expressing themselves? Afterwards maybe?”  
  
“Whadaya mean people like Tom and Gideon. Wha- why are we whispering?” Clawhouser whispered back.  
  
“You know.. people like… you?”  
  
“Cheetah’s?” Clawhouser paused. “Big… sexy Cheetas?”  
  
“Ben! Don’t make me say it. You know, when a guy likes another guy?”  
  
“Your brother is gay? O. M. G.!”  
  
Judy leaned away from Clawhouser’s face and folded her ear down in anticipation for what was coming next.  
  
“Eeeeeeeeeeee! That is so great! Why didn’t you tell me? And he’s with that fox? OMG Judy. They’re a little bizarro you and Nick. I can’t take it, I’m going to have a heart attack and die right here.”  
  
“Ben! Focus!” Judy snapped her fingers in front of his face.  
  
“I want to go with you. I’m coming to dinner and clubbing with you and your brother and your two fox mates and that, is, final!”  
  
“Ok ok! Just.. pick someplace nice, nothing raunchy ok?”  
  
“Judy! Who do you take me for? I only go to nice places. And don’t worry my big hunk of a tiger mate will be there with me. You’ve seen his picture right? Isn’t he the cutest thiiiiing?” The cheetahs voice raising to the point of being shrill at the end as he pushed the desktop picture of his tiger mate into her face for the 10th time. “I can’t wait for you guys to finally meet him.”  
  
“Ben, we’ve met him tons, he brings you lunch and emergency donuts at least once a week!”  
  
“Yeeeeaaahhhhh”, Clawhouser just replied dreamily.  
  
Judy hopped off the desk and slowly back away, then headed for the office that she and nick shared.  
  
“I don’t know why, but talking to that cheetah is unusually exhausting” Was all that Judy said as she sat down to finish her paperwork.  
  
\-----  
  
“Wow this place is nice Ben, you out did yourself.” Judy remarked after they were seated.  
  
“Well you didn’t give me much time to make reservations, but they had a last minute cancellation and we got lucky. +Normally you have to reserve a week in advance!” The Cheetah replied.  
  
The restaurant was in the heart of the Rainforest District. Called Spots and Stripes it tried to be an all-inclusive restaurant with a varied diet menu. Inside it was a warmer, dryer version of the Rainforest climate outside, dim and jungle-y with lots of large broad leafed plants, long tree branches and hanging vines.  
  
Tom and Gideon were in awe of the sheer size of the place and how it felt like you were outside when you weren’t.  
  
Clawhouser was staring at Tom and Gideon as they sat together in the booth when his mate Felix nudged him, “What have I told you about staring at every cute male with 10 feet of you”.  
  
“Awwww… I’m just looking!” the cheetah whined. “Besides, I’d never leave you my big strong tiger” Clawhouser cooed as he snuggled against Felix.  
  
Tom and Gideon were wide eyed, Judy had an expression of “Awwwww” and nick was literally sticking his finger down his muzzle a the display.  
  
Thankfully their food arrived before anyone succumbed to cuteness overload from the cat couple.  
  
“Wow, this food looks so fancy, ah nevah seen nuthin like this before.” Gideon exclaimed as he poked at his fish with a fork. “Ah mean ah had fish from the lake growin up but wow.” He took a bite of the perfectly cooked fillet and smiled with closed eyes at the way it melted sweetly on his tongue.  
  
The rest of the table were busy tasting their own dishes and the group was dead silent for the duration of the meal.  
  
Tom finished off the last of his beer and wiped his muzzle saying, “That may be the highlight dinner of my life. Ah though Bonnie was the best cook, and no offense ta Ma but… Wow!”  
  
The other mammals were finishing their meals and rubbing their bellies in appreciation. Gideon’s smile slowly faded as he started to think about what the cost for that bit of heaven on a plate was going to cost him, he started wringing his paws nervously.  
  
“What’s wrong Gid? Need the bathroom?” Tom whispered to him.  
  
“What? No! Just uh, did you see what the prices were on the menu?”  
  
“Er, no, now that you bring it up, I don’t think there were any”, Tom replied.  
  
“Well I dunna think that means it was free, how much money do ya have on ya?”  
  
“I got maybe 40 Z?”  
  
“That probably won’t even pay for one of us, ask ya sister if she can cover us maybe? Ah’ll pay her back somehow.”  
  
The table had been cleared and just then the waiter brought the bill and set it in the middle of the table. Tom and Nick started reaching for their wallets but Felix reached over with one huge paw and grabbed the bill, “It’s on Claw and I tonight” He said mater-of-factly.  
  
“We just wanted to show the out of towners one of the cities finer points on their first visit!” Clawhouser squee’d with a smile.  
  
Gid and Tom weren’t sure how to react at first, they were from a place where you worked for everything you had, ate, wore and so forth. Having someone just give you a pair of 100 Z meals was just completely unheard of in the Burrows.  
  
Clawhouser saw the uncertainty in their eyes as they glanced to each other and purred, “It’s ok guys, we come here all the time. Felix is a big-to-do investment tiger, just enjoy it ok?”  
  
“Ah well if ya say so Mr. Clawhouser, And Felix, ah am mighty grateful fer your hospitality.”  
  
“Yes very!” Tom piped up. “Thank you very much.”  
  
“Don’t mention it, any friends of Ben’s are friend of mine and I love treating my friends well.”  
  
“So then, who’s up for some clubbing maybe?” The cheetah asked enthusiastically.  
  
Tom and Gideon looked at each other quietly, but Nicked jumped up, “Yes! This fox would enjoy a bit of dancing with his lovely lady, Judy?”  
  
Judy whispered something in Nick’s ear which made his tail droop.  
  
“Uh, well on second thought, I guess it’s been a long day so Judy and I are going to head home, but you guys have fun!”  
  
Judy added, “Now Ben, get these two back to Nicks in one piece right?”  
  
“Will do bunny britches!” Clawhouser slurred a bit which earned him an angry glance from Judy.  
  
Judy was already leading Nick away by the paw but he turned back to the table and whispered, “Rabbits! Am I right?” As he looked to Gideon and clicked his tongue.  
  
Clawhouser watched Nick and Judy walk away then turned to the other rabbit couple at the table and started speaking to them in a hushed whisper. “Ok you two, we actually have something special planned for you. You can back out if you want to but you won’t want to, trust me.”  
  
Tom and Gideon were starting to feel a bit nervous having been left with two large preds in which they were only barely acquainted, but, they were friends of Judy’s right?  
  
“Ok, here it is” Ben continued, “A couple of blocks from here there is a male only and interspecies friendly bathhouse, you can take a sauna or a warm bath or Jacuzzi and it is just wall to wall naked males of all sizes, colors and flavors!” Clawhouser’s face almost scrunched up till it disappeared as he mouthed the word ‘males’. Felix smiled but shook his head.  
  
“We’re members and we can get you in as guests. You’ll be with us the entire time and no one will bother you, believe me, we’ll guide you and take care of you. It’ll be a nice relaxing evening, or maybe not as relaxing, your choice. What-a-ya say?” Clawhouser looked at them with such a bright silly grin and wide sparking eyes that neither of the generally reserved country mammals could find the courage to disappoint him.  
  
Normally they would have never considered such a thing ever, but looking into the cheetah’s hypnotically friendly face they both let a “Sure, I guess”, “Sounds like fun” escape from their lips before they knew what was happening.  
  
“Great!” The cheetah shouted way too loudly for the nice surroundings and was already scooting out of the booth with his Tiger in tow. Felix smiled at them as if to say, “If only you knew what you just got yourselves into.”  
  
\-----  
  
Clawhouser practically skipped and bounced all the way to the entrance to the bathhouse building. The outside was fancy looking but suspiciously devoid of any markings what so ever. Just the numbers for the address over the large front door which had two smaller doors inset into it, it looked like they catered to anything from small cat to elephants in size.  
  
Felix pulled up the medium size door and motioned for the group to go inside. A large hallway served as a waiting room and someone at a desk asked to see ID’s. Felix showed his membership card and ID, “Two members and two guests” he said. Ben showed his cards next and then Tom and Gid showed ID and they were all let into the building proper.  
  
The inside was brighter lit than the restaurant but not by a lot. It too was very jungle themed in keeping with the district it was in. The carpet was an artificial grass material that felt soft on the paw pads. They foursome picked up a set of medium sized towels from cubbies along the wall on their way to the changing rooms.  
  
The changing room had lockers around the middle of the room with nice wooden benches around the outside. The floor was some kind of pebbly surface in various shades of brown and black, the walls were also tiled with an artfully done background of jungle plants and a purple sunset with several feral wild animals in the foreground, conspicuously unclothed with large members on them.  
  
Tom and Gid spent a fair amount of time looking around trying to take it all in and they hadn’t even gotten to the pool area yet. Clawhouser chose a spot to change, peeling his clothes off like he was home alone, placing them all in a locker and putting the key and his membership card around his neck. Next it was Felix’s turn and the naked Tiger really got the burrow residents’ eyes popping.  
  
There were a dozen or so other mammals in the room also in various states of getting dressed or undressed. Tom’s eyes were wider than ever catching glimpses at the size of some of the other ‘members’. So much nakedness all at once had his head swimming when he realized he probably shouldn’t be staring and looked at the floor.  
  
Clawhouser noted his distress and leaned down to reassure him, “Tom, and Gid. This is not a nude beach or the Mystic Oasis nudist club. In here it is considered impolite to NOT look, or rather to purposely look away, understand? If someone does not have a towel on, they want you to look. Isn’t that great?  
  
Tom at least nodded his head and looked back over at a rhino standing naked with the fattest cock and biggest pair of balls he could even imagine possible on an animal. The Rhino politely smiled and nodded back to him, turning a bit so he could get a better look.  
  
Tom and Gideon had only managed to take their shirts off and now Ben and Felix were staring at them. Gideon spoke up first with an “Uuuuh…” The cheetah rolled his eyes and turned his back to them, Felix followed suit and they quickly took off their pants and undies then wrapped the towels around their waists.  
  
Clawhouser turned to peek and saw they had covered up. He turned around and gave them an exaggerated “Tsk, tsk, tsk. You two are really advertising that this is your first time here ya know. Ya gotta take them off to get in the water! Ah well, let’s head to the pools first!” He turned and headed for the exit, his ample rump swaying along with his raised tail as he led them to the main pool room.  
  
The main pool was very large with three uniform levels of depth, 1 foot, 4 feet and 8 feet deep. Each section was large enough to swim in but also had a lot of places to sit in small groups and just relax in the warm water.  
  
Outside of that there were smaller pools and Jacuzzis that were semi private, with teak fences between them on three sides. The ceiling was tall with lots of trees and vines hanging down making it look a bit like an outdoor lake in the jungle.  
  
Clawhouser headed over to the med depth area put his towel down on a bench at the edge of the pool, then waded into the warm water. He laid on his back and floated like a cork with his arms and legs spread wide.  
  
Felix chuckled as he purposely bared himself for the shy newcomers and he waded into the pool himself. He walked over to the floating cheetah and planted a kiss on his muzzle while rubbing his belly, he then took off to swim some laps in the deeper area where no one was at the moment.  
  
Tom took his towel off and put it on the bench with the others, he didn’t really have anything particular showing to be embarrassed about. But Gideon was still standing there, his towel wasn’t around his hips any more but he was holding it in front of his male parts.  
  
Tom headed into the pool and swam over to Clawhouser. That just left one shy baker fox on the edge still hiding himself and blushing. “Come on Gid! Just drop the towel and come in! You were the first one naked at the lake!”  
  
“All right, dun rush me, it were just the two of us at the lake there’s a lot a mammals around here.” Gideon finally took a deep breath and set his towel down while quickly scrambling into the water. “Whew!”  
  
“There now, that wasn’t that hard was it?” the cheetah cooed at them. Clawhouser led them to a little bar area in the middle of the pool with underwater stools to sit at. He flashed his membership badge which the naked hippo bartender scanned. “Order anything you want, it’s on me tonight boys.”  
  
Gideon knew he could use a drink to loosen up. “Ah’ll have one Amber Snout please.”  
  
“Regular or special reserve?” the hippo asked.  
  
“Ooooh special? Ah’ll have me on a those!” Gid said his eyes livening up.  
  
“One for me too!” Tom added.  
  
Clawhouser got some kind of giant 6 color cocktail with multiple straws and sliced fruits in it.  
  
The bartender put two tall 22 oz glasses of a darker colored Amber Snout than the pair was used to on the counter.  
  
Clawhouser raised his glass to the out of towners and toasted “To Zootopia!”  
  
“Zootopia!” they replied and took a drink.  
  
“And to all the wonderful males!” Clawhouser said giggling then quickly added while raising his glass “Of all species!” He turned to them and lowered his voice a bit instructing, “That’s a two-fer”.  
  
Tom and Gid, clicked glasses with him and studiously took two drinks. Just then Clawhouser screamed in an 8th octive pitch just before Felix surfaced from underwater where he’d just goosed the cheetah. The Tiger had a huge grin on his face.  
  
“Oh you’re turrrrrible Felix” The cheetah slurred a bit.  
  
“Watch those fruity drinks there, I don’t want to have to heft you into the cab like last time!”  
  
“Oh you loved it, I loved it, it was soooo romantic of you” he cooed in response. “Hey, let’s go stake out a Jacuzzi”  
  
The group followed the giggling cheetah over to one of the semi-private Jacuzzis. Ben put his drink down on the edge while dipping a toe into the water, “Eee!” Felix rolled his eyes and dropped into the hot water, helping Ben in with him.  
  
“Ooh, that is warm”, Tom exclaimed as he sunk hit hips under the water line.  
  
“Ah love hot showers, this is mah kinda bath temp” Gideon said as he eased himself into the steaming, bubbling water. Gid took another draw on his glass and set it down outside the jacuzzi, he reached a paw under the water and pulled his long eared boyfriend close to his side with a smile. He then looked over at Felix and Ben and they were fully lip locked, panting, nuzzling and licking each other’s faces.  
  
Seeing the two large cats making out had Gideon almost instantly erect. It was so erotic and it was happening right next to him. He just stared at them watching their large tongues lick and sweep over each other’s noses, whiskers, muzzles and each other’s tongues themselves.  
  
Gideon only just barely heard Tom make a little “Ahem” sound he was so entranced by the spectacle. He looked over to see Tom making a kissy face at him and he brought the rabbit over to his lap and started nuzzling him with the same gusto. Gid wrapped his paws around the bunny’s back and held him close, he could feel the rabbit’s soft belly fur around his cock and it felt wonderful.  
  
The fox and rabbit took a nuzzle break to have another drink and found the Tiger and cheetah had been watching them this time with smiles on their faces. “Now you’re getting it you two, I couldn’t be happier for you both”, He said with a smile.  
  
Felix nudged the cheetahs back with his big muzzle, “shall we?”  
  
Clawhouser turned to rub his tiger’s nose, then back to the two smaller mammals, “Alright you two, it’s time to take this party up a notch, follow us”. The two cats stood and got out of the Jacuzzi. Gideon was starting to get up when he almost got a face full of cheetah cock which was now hanging down long and thick between the cats legs. Without thinking Gideon gasped, “Geeze Ben, where were you hiding that thing?”  
  
Felix Guffawed and Clawhouser actually looked a little embarrassed for a moment before quietly answering in his breathy voice, “I uh, I’ve always been more of a grower than a shower.” Then as he looked down at the fox who was standing with just his lower legs in the water at this point, “And what about you Mr. Canine?”  
  
Gideon was still fully erect, pointing skyward and bright red like a beacon, almost the same color that his face turned as he realized. “Oh, no! Our towels!!”  
  
“Don’t panic little fox, we’ll just grab our glasses, walk across the pool, return them to the bar and grab our towels on the other side. But really, that is not an uncommon sight in here, just go with it, be proud! Your size to weight ratio is nothing to be ashamed of love.”  
  
Gideon turned away from the pool area hiding himself from general view as he grabbed his beer glass and finished off the contents quickly. Tom was finding it all pretty amusing till the fox tried using him as a shield to get to the pool without being seen.  
  
They managed to make it back to their towels which Gideon quickly wrapped around himself, though there was no hiding the sizeable tent that he now had. “Dear, that’s just more embarrassing that showing it off!” The cheetah slurred as a last remark before leading the party to the drying area. Using the towels they dried themselves off the best they could (Shaking was discouraged), then entered the drying chambers for a quick blow dry. Fresh towels waited them on the other side of which Gideon was the only one that took one.  
  
Clawhouser led them down a dark hallway, it looked a bit like a hotel with rooms along the sides, but there were little red, green or yellow lights above the doors.  
  
“Uh, what is all this?” Tom asked curiously, his nose twitching. Gideon already knew what was going on back here, his nose was full of the scent of sex from a dozen or more animals all mingled together. He was quiet but the scents were making him ravenously aroused.  
  
“These are the uh… cuddle rooms, little bunny. A green light means the room is empty, red means it is occupied and private. Yellow means that the room is occupied but random guests are welcome to watch or join as they wish.”  
  
“Oookay…” Tom replied.  
  
“Here, let’s take this room, it’s got a big bed, I’ll set it to private if you like.”  
  
Gideon was openly sniffing the air and grinning, not really listening to what the big cat was saying. But this time it was Tom’s turn to be nervous. He and Gideon hadn’t really even ‘done it’ for real and certainly without anyone else watching or… wanting to participate?”  
  
Felix locked the door behind them, turning on the red privacy light outside. Clawhouser in the meantime jumped on all fours on the large round bed that nearly filled the small room, he wiggled his big butt while swishing his tail. His bright orange-yellow balls acting like a beacon for the other three males. He then laughed and laid down sideways and waited for everyone to come closer.  
  
Felix was the first to crawl onto the bed with his mate and they started face licking again, this time moving to each other’s ears and necks. It didn’t take long for both of them to be fully showing and stiff. Gideon was sure that they were probably actually turned on by having them in the same room while having sex.  
  
The scent of sex everywhere in the back rooms had Gideon erect and dripping himself already. He took Toms paw and led him to the bed. He saw that he was looking a little pensive so he just sat on the edge and put the bunny in his lap, nuzzling Toms face with warm little licks. The fox used his paws to gently massage the base of the rabbits ears and Tom finally fell into the nuzzling, purring and rubbing his face on Gideon’s, exchanging their scents.  
  
Gideon held Tom with one arm as he rolled back on the bed, laying the rabbit on his belly and on top of his painfully stiff cock. He looked over at the cats, they were still kissing but Felix was now using a hind paw to stroke Ben’s Cock, his precum lubricating the tiger’s toes as he curled them around the impressive cheetah member.  
  
Tom was warming up to the situation and pushed himself up with his paws on the fox’s chest. With his lower belly he ground his soft fur against Gideon’s cock. Gideon held the rabbit by putting his paws on Tom’s knees. He watched as the rabbit alternately rubbed him with his belly fur and with the side of his rabbit cock. Precum slowly wetted them both and the fur surrounding their members as Tom gyrated his hips. Both cocks were soon enveloped in the warm slippery wetness of lubricated fur, occasionally brushing against each other warmly.  
  
Clawhouser pushed Felix’s paw away mere seconds before he was about to cum and got back on his knees. He was serious about the invitation this time, leaning his shoulders down and pushing his rump out further, he raised his tail and showed his fuzzy testicles off to his Tiger mate who immediately stuffed his wet muzzle under the cheetah’s tail.  
  
The big cat licked and nuzzled the cheetah between his plush rump cheeks, licking up from his balls to the underside of his tail. He paid special attention to gently nuzzling and licking at Clawhauser’s rear entrance while the big cat squealed and purred loudly.  
  
Tom was looking at the cats and wondering if he could or should do that to Gideon. What he wasn’t paying attention to was how close he was to orgasm, his cock buried in Gideon’s wet belly fur, he squeaked and pulled back trying to stop it but just as he grabbed his cock he went over the point of no return and he came, shooting onto Gideon’s arm. At that point he just stroked himself enjoying it... the last small spurts falling directly on top of the Fox’s cock.  
  
“S- Sorry Gid, it just hit me” Tom said panting.  
  
“That’s ok Tom, just happy ta see ya enjoin mah body so much really.”  
  
“Huh? What happened? Did I miss something?” Clawhouser asked through his purring.  
  
Felix laughed, “You sure did! The bunny was the first to go!”  
  
“Aaa!” Clawhouser rolled his face over towards the fox and rabbit. “Well… I won’t miss the fox’s performance anyway!”  
  
Felix squeezed himself and got a generous helping of slick Tiger lubrication on a paw finger and brought it up under Clawhauser’s tail. He worked the fluid in circles against the cheetah’s rear entrance then pushed his finger deep inside the cat’s body.  
  
“Uh, O.M.G. Felix, I never get tired of that.”  
  
Felix twisted and pumped his finger in and out of the cat’s tail hole eliciting the cutest string of sing song “MmmM” sounds and purring noises from him. Finally he pulled his finger out and moved up between the cheetah’s legs, he positioned his pointed penis just under the cat’s tail and socketed his head into Clawhauser’s opening. The pair made small adjustments to their positions as they have probably done this dozens of times, then the Tiger thrust his hips and pushed his length entirely inside. He moved his hips side to side wiggling his cock inside the big feline before settling into a slow and methodical rhythm pushing himself deep into a spotted rear end.  
  
Gid and tom watched the pair with some jealousy over how easy and natural it looked to them. They were still a bit awkward and hadn’t really figured each other’s bodies out yet. Gideon was starting to whine from the scent of the cats mating getting stronger and his need for satisfaction not being fulfilled at the moment.  
  
“You better get working on that fox there little bunny, don’t leave him in the cold too long.” Clawhouser advised as he was purring and gyrating against the Tiger.  
  
Tom looked down at the large canine penis, wet with his cum still on it. He placed a paw directly on the underside and ran it down the fox’s length. Gideon made a grunting sound and his cock jumped a bit in the rabbits paw. Tom pushed his paw upwards and ran it back downwards again. The soft fur in his palm was driving Gideon crazy. Tom wrapped his paw around the canine’s member and began stroking it. With his other paw he began caressing the fox’s testicles. Gideon was grunting and squirming under the rabbits ministrations. Finally Tom leaned over and took the head of Gideon’s cock into his mouth and moved his tongue in circles under the head.  
  
Gideon wasn’t used to having someone else touch him at all let alone like this. He wanted to do something with his paws but he didn’t know what. It was so exciting and occasionally disappointing when the rabbit did something just right but then changed the pattern just as he was getting close. The idea that he wasn’t in control of his own orgasm was a completely new experience, which is why when he did go off, it was a dramatic display.  
  
Gideon had been pushed to the point of orgasm three times, on the fourth he was so, SO close, his hands automatically shot up to grab his cock. Tom pulled back thinking something was wrong at first but almost instantly Gideon came hard making an unintended “Ah!” in surprise and he shot streamers of fox cum straight up and onto his belly. He grabbed the base of his knot and held on as spurt after spurt of fox cum landed on his belly, glistening a pale yellow color in the dim lighting.  
  
Both Felix and Clawhouser had been watching the show and were rewarded with a boost of excitement as the fox covered himself with his own semen. Felix used his paws to pull up on the cheetah’s sides, indicating to Ben to get up on his knees. The tiger then reached around and wrapped a paw around the cheetahs dripping member, stroking him with his large pads. He rammed the spotty cat’s rear end till he came with a surprisingly loud roar. The sound of his mates orgasm roar always sent a shiver down Clawhouser’s spine and he came onto the sheets of the bed as he felt himself being filled from behind. Felix hugged the cheetah tightly holding himself inside his body till he was sure he had emptied himself completely. His cock then slipped out of the cat’s wet rear end.  
  
The two big cats softly collapsed onto the bed on their sides, panting and smelling of raw primal sex. Gideon just laid back and watched the cats from where he was. Tom had sat up by his side and the fox was lightly tickling the fur just above his tail. In the reverie of his afterglow, the fox’s curiosity got the better of him, being a creature of scents, he dipped a paw into the warm puddle that Ben had left on the sheets and brought it to his nose for a closer inspection.  
  
Felix just watched him, and then looked at Clawhouser with raised eyebrows. “Fine. Just... ask first.” The big cheetah said to an unasked question. The tiger crawled slowly over to where the fox was laying on the bed and looked at him in the eyes. He raised his eyebrows, as if Gideon was supposed to know what that meant. He then moved his muzzle down to the fox’s belly and slowly dipped his nose into the fox’s wet fur and took a sniff back. He then proceeded to groom Gideon from balls to chest till he was completely clean.  
  
Both Tom and Gideon just looked on a little stunned, finally Tom turns for Gid and asks, “Was I supposed to do that?” Gideon just shrugged his shoulders.  
  
“Only if you want to dear” Clawhouser answered, then with a sigh “You two are just too precious for this world.”  
  
The four of them snuggled up close and purred together for a good hour or so. They could have spent the night that way but Clawhouser knew if he didn’t get her brother and his mate back to the house before midnight there’d be hell to pay with Judy come Monday so he reluctantly had to take charge and rouse everyone. They still had a shower to take, cloths to change and a taxi to hail.  
  
Clawhouser had told the bunny fox couple how to get up to Nick’s apartment as the taxi dropped them off in front of the building. The pair was extremely tired and stumbling out of the cab and towards the stairs.  
  
“Did he say third door on the second floor or the second door on the first floor?”  
  
“Ya askin’ me? Mah head is killin me.”  
  
Inside the apartment Nick was the first to wake up from the rough pounding on the front door. A muffled “Nick! Judy!” could be heard as he made his way to the front door. “This bettah be the right door this time” Nick heard Gideon say just before opening it.  
  
“Well... you two look like a couple of drowned rats! Did Claw just dump you here?”  
  
“Mmmwe.. tired.” Was all that Gideon said.  
  
Nick helped them in and onto the couch. He looked both of them over and decided that laying them down there was probably the best (and least difficult) option. “Now don’t you dare throw up on my couch you hear?” he said as he put a pillow under each of their heads at opposite ends of the couch. A job well done, as far as he was concerned, he then trudged back to the bedroom and closed the door for the night.  
  
\-----  
  
The next morning Judy was up before Nick, like every morning actually, but especially on their day off. She got herself ready for the day and headed into the living room. Judy stopped dead in her tracks and stomped back into the bedroom to roughly rouse the sleeping fox. “Nick! Nick you better get up right now!”  
  
“Muh, what’s going on? Why are you so... ‘Judy’ this early in the morning?”  
  
“I want you to go out there and tell me what is going on in the living room.”  
  
“What? Nothing! I just put the two numskulls to bed is all. They could barely move after I let them in.”  
  
“Just come look!”  
  
“All right all right” Nick rolled out of bed in his boxers and went into the Livingroom to see what the big deal ways.  
  
“Yikes!”  
  
“Is that all you have to say?”  
  
“They weren’t like that last night. I’m mostly sure they were wearing cloths, I was kind of groggy.”  
  
Gideon was lying naked with Tom curled against his chest on the couch. Nick smiled at them, they were actually kind of cute together he thought. And it wasn’t as if he wasn’t used to rampant nudity at times in his life. Judy sure did have an aversion to it outside the bedroom though.  
  
“I’m going to get coffee and muffins. Have those two up and dressed by the time I get back.”  
  
“Yes my dear. See you in a few.”  
  
“They better not have left any stains on the cushions,” she mumbled on her way out the door.  
  
Nick pondered on the best way to wake the naked couple on the couch without having to touch them. Seeing naked bodies was one thing, manhandling them was another. A flash of inspiration brought him to the kitchen to seek out a pan and a large wooden cooking spoon.  
  
KLANG KLANG KLANG “Time to get boys!”  
  
Gideon leapt off the couch, “What on earth was that racket?” he yelled in surprise till he saw a certain smirking fox holding up kitchen supplies. “Ah’m gonna get you fer that Nick” Gideon warned and started towards him.  
  
“What, buck naked? Or rather tod naked, your partner is buck naked am I right?”  
  
“What the,” Gideon looked down at himself and Tom, “Where the heck are our cloths?”  
  
“That’s what I’d like to know. I see a shirt over there on a lamp. You better get yourselves dressed before Judy comes back with breakfast or you’ll really get it good! Bathroom is down at the end of the hall if you need it.”  
  
Tom didn’t need to be warned twice about his sister’s moods, he helped Gideon find all the clothing they had strewn about sometime during the night.  
  
When Judy got back from the coffee shop she was amazed to see the three males fully dressed and sitting politely in the Livingroom. “Well, you guys can play nice. Alright, I’ll forget I saw my brother naked laying with my former mortal enemy, also naked and we can pick up from here.” She said setting down the tray of food and coffee.  
  
“Alright spill the beans, what did you guys do till who knows what in the morning, I need to know just how much of a beating to give too Clawhouser. How much did you have to drink anyway?”  
  
“It was no big deal Judy, Gid and I had one beer, that’s it.”  
  
“One beer?” Nick looked at them skeptical. “What kind of beer was it?”  
  
“Ah, it was a Amber Snout Special Reserve. It was delicious”, Gideon piped in.  
  
“What size was the bottle, regular? Or large?”  
  
Gideon spread his paws to indicate the size of the glass.  
  
“You know that stuff is 12% alcohol right? And you had a double bottle? Well no wonder, hahaha!”  
  
“Ah see, ah dinno know, ah also finished off Tom’s, he said he dinna want any more afta about a half a glass.”  
  
“Still that’s not like pass out drunk, where did you guys go anyway?”  
  
Tom and Gid looked at each other for a moment, not sure what to say, they certainly didn’t want to get Ben in any trouble. “Well afta the beers we all had a soak in a tub with bubbles, I forget what he called it”  
  
“A Jacuzzi” Tom ansered.  
  
“Ya, that was nice but kinda tired ya out ya know?”  
  
“Well that and the sex.” Tom blurted out.  
  
Everyone stared at Tom who seemed to be enjoying torturing his sister, not caring who else he threw under the bus. “What. Sex. ???” Judy said with a raised voice. “I was expecting him to take you to a gay bar maybe but then to keep an eye on you.”  
  
“Oh well it’s ok, it was just the four of us.”  
  
Gideon slapped his forehead with a paw.  
  
“You guys had sex with Ben and Felix?” Judy said incredulously. “I’m going to kill him. Clawhouser is a dead cheetah.”  
  
“It’s not like that Judy!” Gideon corrected. “Clawhouser had sex with Felix, Tom had sex with me”  
  
“In the same bed” Tom added. “It was after that that we were completely exhausted.”  
  
Nick was beside himself laughing. Judy yelled at him to shut up but it didn’t do any good. “Alright, just tell me did he force you into this? Was it his decision to buy you 100 proof beer?”  
  
“No and No Judy, ya have Ma word, it was entirely our decision and we had a good time. Sorry about being kind of late and worrying ya but really, were totally fine. It was a fun night.”  
  
“Tom?”  
  
“It as he said Judes, it was all good.” Tom said as he smirked at her and gave Gideon a peck on the cheek.  
  
Judy rubbed her temples as she thought about how she can barely handle wrangling one of these idiot males. If she were responsible for all three constantly she would go crazy. “Alright, I’ll let it drop, but Ben is going to get an earful on Monday.”  
  
Judy calmed herself and turned to her brother. “Ok Tom, besides just wanting a nice getaway weekend, you said you wanted to talk about Mother and Dad and their attitude towards the two of you?”  
  
Tom got serious and turned to face her directly, “Sigh, yes Judy. Pa is dead set against me and Gideon. You and Nick used up every last ounce of tolerance he could muster I think. Even Ma is against it. And your sisters! They are the worst, Janene actually tried to turn Gid against me at one point.”  
  
“Heh, Janene. Well you know that you’ve been their favorite brother forever. And Mother and Father’s favorite son…”  
  
“But you were their favorite daughter and they gave you a pass!”  
  
“I wouldn’t call it a pass exactly but... you’re right, they did lay off eventually. I think…” Judy trailed off for a bit. “No, I’d bet that the main problem is that you are still living at home. You’re too close to them, all of them. I was 200 miles away when I met Nick, and 200 miles away when we fell in love. I’m just not on their mind every hour of every day like you are.”  
  
“So you’re saying that to get any peace I have to move out? Where would I go? And what would I do for a living? I don’t have any goals like you Judes, I always thought I’d just take over the farm, not that I cared too really, it was just a foregone conclusion, easy to just let happen.”  
  
“Well Tom, what about…” Judy tilted her head towards Gideon.  
  
“Move in with Gideon?”  
  
Gideon’s face lit up like a Zootopian billboard.  
  
“But what about work? And really we just uh started dating.”  
  
Gideon narrowed his eyes at that remark.  
  
“Make Pa pay you a small salary to cover food and expenses, commute to the farm. You’ll still be around a lot but without being there for dinner every night and without their leverage of saying ‘while you’re under my roof!’ their say on what you do with your life will be a lot less.”  
  
Gideon put his arms around Tom and smiled at him, completely enamored of the idea and ready to let the bunny move into his apartment that night.  
  
“I’ll have to think about this some. What you’re saying makes sense, though merely moving out will be a fireworks show by itself.”  
  
“Just be calm and solid in your conviction. They’ll have to let you do what you want in the end.”  
  
“And the farm?”  
  
“That’s what 20 or 30 years from now? Worry about that then, anything could happen between now and then. Just do what you have to to make yourself happy today and go from there. That’s what I’ve always done and so far it’s worked out better than I could have hoped.” Judy finished off giving Nick a quick hug.  
  
Tom watched her hug Nick and then looked at Gideon who immediately leaned over for a hug of his own. “Well thanks sis, you gave me a lot to think about…”  
  
“Well now, you have to tell us the whole story about how you actually met and fell in love, I’m dying to know the details!” Judy beemed.  
  
Gideon and Nick both groaned.  
  
\-----  
  
The long drive home was mostly quiet. Both mammals lost in thought, though Tom much more so. The foursome had had a long chat at Nick’s place before going to lunch at a nearby Diner. After saying their goodbyes, it was a long drive back to Bunnyburrow.  
  
Tom was excited at the prospect of moving into Gideon’s apartment but terrified of telling his Father about it. Suddenly it occurred to him that he had never actually talked to Gid about the idea seriously, maybe he didn’t actually want a rabbit invading his bachelor pad?  
  
Tom looked over at Gid who was slack faced, watching the miles on miles of open fields and farmland go by while Tom drove the truck. “Say fox face… “  
  
“Hmmm?” Gideon answered without turning around.  
  
“What do you really think about my maybe moving in with you? You’ve lived alone for so long, are you sure you want somebunny underfoot all the time?””  
  
Gideon turned and looked a Tom with a bit of shock. “Wait are ya saying maybe ya don’t wanna live with a mangy fox?”  
  
“What? No! I want to more than anything! I just wanted to make sure you felt the same way. It’s kind of a big step…”  
  
“Aw you worry too much Tom. If’n it dun work out I’ll just kick yer fuzzy tail out and you can move back home again right?”  
  
“I – I guess. Gee thanks Gid, that straightens that out I guess.” Tom said with some sarcasm.  
  
“Ah’m jus playin with ya, the day ah kick a bunny as awesome as you outta mah house is the day ah aughta check inta the loony bin. Dun even worry about that, jus concentrate on marchin up to yer Pa and letting him know how it is. Say you want me ta come with ya?”  
  
“No. That might not be the best idea. I need to talk to him an Ma alone.”  
  
Gideon reached over to pet Tom on the belly, skritching through his fur with his claws. After a bit though the skritching moved lower and lower till the fox slipped a couple paw fingers under the Rabbits waistband.  
  
Tom grabbed the fox’s wandering Pa with his own and pulled it out. “Now Gid, I’m driving here. We just have a couple hours to go, you’ll have to wait till then!”  
  
Gideon humphed and turned back to watch the rows and rows of farmland pass by once again.  
  
\----  
  
It was already dark by the time they got back to Bunnyburrow. They drove through the Bug-Burger to grab a quick meal and headed back to Gideon’s apartment. Once home, Gideon took off his shirt and pants and headed for the fridge. “Snout?”  
  
“Ugh, no thanks! Got any Carrot Sodas?”  
  
“Sure thing bunny butt!” Gideon brought over two bottles of soda and sunk onto the couch next to Tom. “That were some weekend Tom. Ah’ll remember that fer a long time ta come! Nut ah gotta be honest, ah’m mighty grateful ta be back home again!”  
  
“Haha, that’s for sure! Though maybe we could make that like a yearly thing on our anniversary”, Tom blurted out.  
  
“Ya talk like we already married ya silly bunny.”  
  
“So are you saying you wouldn’t marry me?” Tom said with mock concern.  
  
“Now ah dinna say that! The way ah feel now ah’d marry a in a minute, if ya asked meh.”  
  
“So…” Tom said taking Gideon’s hand, “Would you, Gideon Grey, take my paw in matrimony?” Tom finished, looking into Gideon’s blue eyes with deadly seriousness.  
  
Gideon was stunned silent, looking back at Tom. Was he serious? Whether he was or not, the wrong answer here could be devastating. Shit tom, what did you just do? The pause in the Fox’s response was noticeable and Toms eyes started to drop. Gideon instantly blurted out “Yes!” and he grabbed Tom’s paw with both of his. “Tom I will marry you, as soon as you want, here, alone, with your family or with Judy and Nick in Zootopia, or even eee-lope, anything you want.”  
  
Tom looked at the fox stunned himself. Had he really just asked Gideon Grey to marry him? It just sort of... came out! And had he really just said yes? There was no doubt about the answer though. Gideon was ready to spend the rest of his live with Tom Hopps.  
  
Now Gideon was noticing a pause from Tom, maybe he hadn’t been serious? Carrots!  
  
Tom feigned a bit of nonchalance, “Well we can work out the details later.” Tom ran his other paw across Gideon’s cheek. “For now… we’re engaged and that’s all that matters. Tomorrow I’ll tell the family and pack up a few things and starting tomorrow night, I’ll be living here as your fiance’.”  
  
“Fee-an-say? I uh, well ah look forward to it but if it’s ok ah’ll jus call ya mah boyfriend till then ok?” Gideon replied with a smile.  
  
“That’s fine my wonderful fox mate, perfectly fine.” Tom moved in to give Gideon a kiss on the muzzle, then pulled back unable to hold back a mall laughing fit.  
  
“What’s gotten inta you all of a sudden?”  
  
“I just realized that Judy is going to absolutely KILL me for getting married before she does!”  
  
Gideon groaned as he realized, “And we just gave Nick yet another reason ta hate me, in addition to yer Ma and Pa and half your sisters and most of the eligible does in the county!”  
  
Gideon suddenly had a very serious look on his face, to the point of concerning his rabbit ‘boyfriend’.  
  
“What’s wrong?!? Not backing out already are you?”  
  
“Tom, ya need ta call yer Ma and let her know it’s getting late and yer stayin the night here.”  
  
“Ah right.” Whew! “Thanks for reminding me! I don’t want to get her all in a huff before tomorrow…”  
  
“And second, I’m going home with you tomorrow and talking to yer Pa, by myself. You can talk to yer Ma, but Stu and I need ta have a good long talk.” Gideon finished.  
  
“Ah, ok Gid, whatever you say. What about the Shop?”  
  
“Fer the first time since ah opened, it’ll be closed on Monday. I’ll put a sign in the window.” Gideon looked at Tom directly again, “Now… how about a little celebration in the form of a fur wetting snuggle?”  
  
“Take me! I’m all yours!” Tom bubbled with glee as Gideon picked him up and carried him to the bedroom for the night.  
  
\-----  
  
To be continued…

**Author's Note:**

> Guh what? Tom proposed? How the hell did that happen? I sure as hell didn't mean to type that, he just came out and said it! Now I gotta write a follow-up story Arg! And what was with those two? They haven't even had sex yet! Well, not /really/ right? What are they waiting for? Sometimes those damn characters just don't act the way you imagined they would. :/


End file.
